BERLIN — Fuechse Berlin announced on March 23, 2026, that it had recovered its missing German men's handball league championship trophy in a basement storage area at the club's Berlin offices. The trophy had disappeared from the same building in November.

The club believes suspects stole the trophy and hid it in the basement intending to retrieve it later. According to Fuechse Berlin, the suspects decided against returning for the trophy because of media attention on the theft. "The risk of being caught seemed too high even for the master thieves," the club said.

Authorities found a silver bar in a podcast interview during raids on addresses in January. A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office said that investigators suspected the trophy had been melted down.

The trophy was believed to have been stolen and melted down before its recovery. Police have taken the trophy as evidence. The league canceled the order it had placed for a replacement trophy.

The trophy, valued at around 12,000 euros as of 2014, is engraved with the names of champion teams going back decades. The trophy is awarded to the champion of the German men's handball league.

Handball is a fast-paced team game and one of the most popular sports in Germany and northern Europe. The German men's handball league is widely shown on television.