The 2017–18 SEHA League season was the seventh season of the SEHA (South East Handball Association) League and fourth under the sponsorship of the Russian oil and gas company Gazprom. Ten teams from six countries (Belarus, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia) participated in this year's competition.[4]

2017–18 SEHA League season
LeagueSEHA League
SportHandball
Duration30 August 2017 – 17 March 2018
Number of games90 (regular season)
94 (including F4 tournament)
Number of teams10
 Belarus (1 team)
 Croatia (2 teams)
 Macedonia (2 teams)
 Serbia (2 teams)
 Slovakia (1 team)
 Slovenia (2 teams)
Regular season
Season championsNorth Macedonia Vardar
Season MVPLuka Cindrić[1]
Top scorerHalil Jaganjac
(100 goals) [2]
Final Four
Finals championsNorth Macedonia Vardar[3]
  Runners-upCroatia PPD Zagreb
Finals MVPLuka Cindrić
SEHA League seasons

Vardar are the defending champions. The SEHA League consists of two phases – the first one has 18 rounds in which all teams play one home and one away games against each other. Afterwards, the four best ranked clubs played on the Final Four tournament.

The campaign began on 30 August 2017 with three matches from the first round. The regular season ended on 17 March 2018.

The final four tournament was held at the Jane Sandanski Arena in Skopje, Macedonia from 13th to 15 April 2018.

Team information

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Venues and locations

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Country Team City Venue (Capacity)
  Belarus Meshkov Brest Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria (3,740)
  Croatia PPD Zagreb Zagreb Arena Zagreb (15,200)
Sutinska Vrela Hall (2,000)
Nexe Našice Sportska dvorana (2,500)
  Macedonia Vardar Skopje Jane Sandanski Arena (6,000)
Metalurg Skopje Boris Trajkovski Sports Center (7,000), Avtokomanda (2,000)
  Serbia Dinamo Pančevo Strelište Sports Hall (1,100)
Vojvodina Novi Sad SPENS (11,000), SC Slana Bara (2,000)
  Slovakia Tatran Prešov Prešov City Hall Prešov (4,000)
  Slovenia Gorenje Velenje Velenje Red Hall (2,500)
Celje Pivovarna Laško Celje Zlatorog Arena (5,500)

Personnel and kits

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Following is the list of clubs competing in 2017–18 SEHA League, with their manager, team captain, kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor.

Team Head coach Team captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (main)
Meshkov Brest   Serhiy Bebeshko   Dzmitry Nikulenkau Joma BelGazpromBank
PPD Zagreb   Zlatko Saračević   Igor Vori Hummel Prvo Plinarsko Društvo
Nexe   Hrvoje Horvat   Marko Mrđenović Jako Nexe
Vardar   Raúl González   Stojanče Stoilov Hummel Bet City
Metalurg   Lino Červar   Filip Kuzmanovski Kempa Duferco Makstil
Dinamo   Ivan Petković   Branko Radanović unit-sport Grad Pančevo
Vojvodina   Kasim Kamenica   Vukašin Stojanović NAAI Vinarija Zvonko Bogdan
Tatran Prešov   Slavko Goluža   Radovan Pekár ATAK Sportswear Phoenix
Gorenje Velenje   Željko Babić   Niko Medved Kempa Gorenje
Celje Pivovarna Laško   Branko Tamše   David Razgor Nike Laško

Coaching changes

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Round Club Outgoing coach Date of change Incoming coach
3rd Vojvodina   Boško Rudić 18 September 2017[5]   Dragan Kukić
7th PPD Zagreb   Kasim Kamenica 27 November 2017[6]   Zlatko Saračević
12th Vojvodina   Dragan Kukić 6 January 2018   Kasim Kamenica
18th Vojvodina   Kasim Kamenica 28 March 2018[7]   Boris Rojević

Regular season

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Standings

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Vardar 18 17 1 0 565 445 +120 52 Final four
2   PPD Zagreb 18 12 2 4 514 463 +51 38
3   Celje Pivovarna Laško 18 11 2 5 540 489 +51 35
4   Meshkov Brest 18 10 1 7 532 499 +33 31
5   Gorenje Velenje 18 9 3 6 523 482 +41 30
6   Tatran Prešov 18 6 4 8 494 487 +7 22
7   Metalurg 18 7 1 10 487 521 −34 22
8   Nexe 18 2 6 10 455 510 −55 12
9   Dinamo 18 2 3 13 456 554 −98 9
10   Vojvodina 18 2 1 15 461 567 −106 7

Results

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Home \ Away   MES   ZAG   NEX   VAR   MET   DIN   VOJ   TAT   GOR   CEL
  Meshkov Brest 24–23 35–23 25–25 35–30 29–26 32–27 32–26 32–33 30–34
  PPD Zagreb 27–24 27–19 24–25 30–28 40–29 35–25 32–26 26–25 25–25
  Nexe 19–29 29–30 21–30 31–31 27–19 33–28 23–27 24–24 23–35
  Vardar 31–23 30–23 29–25 31–24 42–32 37–22 32–28 32–19 35–27
  Metalurg 37–33 26–32 29–22 23–32 33–25 30–26 31–30 24–29 28–26
  Dinamo 26–33 28–28 25–25 23–27 20–25 22–20 26–26 27–29 26–37
  Vojvodina 27–36 21–29 29–28 32–36 21–19 24–29 23–23 27–39 26–31
  Tatran Prešov 24–23 33–28 26–26 22–30 27–19 36–24 35–26 27–27 25–26
  Gorenje Velenje 37–28 23–25 30–30 24–30 37–25 34–24 37–20 27–25 22–25
  Celje Pivovarna Laško 24–29 23–30 27–27 28–31 34–25 39–25 36–27 32–28 31–27
Source: [citation needed]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final Four

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The SEHA - Gazprom League Executive Committee has made the decision for the final four tournament to be held at the Jane Sandanski Arena in Skopje, Macedonia from 13th to 15 April.[8]

Format

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The first-placed team of the standings faced the fourth-placed team, and the second-placed team played against the third-placed team from the standings in the Final Four.

Semifinals

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13 April 2018
17:45 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Vardar   33–24   Meshkov Brest Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 5,380
Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
Cindrić 6 (17–14) Baranau 9
  1×  Report   5× 
13 April 2018
20:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)
PPD Zagreb   29–28   Celje Pivovarna Laško Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 2,270
Referees: Nikolov, Nachevski (MKD)
Pavlović 7 (14–11) Mačkovšek 6
  2×  Report   3× 

Match for third place

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15 April 2018
17:45 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Meshkov Brest   28–31   Celje Pivovarna Laško Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 3,000
Referees: Nikolić Stojković (SRB)
Horák, Shumak 5 (14–15) Mlakar 7
 4×  Report   4×  1× 

Final

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15 April 2018
20:15 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Vardar   26–24   PPD Zagreb Jane Sandanski Arena, Skopje
Attendance: 6,000
Referees: Brynovski, Čanda (SVK)
Cindrić, Krištopāns 5 (14–13) Horvat 8
  1×  Report   2×  1× 

Top goalscorers

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As of 15 April 2018
Rank Player Club Goals
1   Halil Jaganjac   Metalurg 100
2   Bruno Butorac   Tatran Prešov 95
3   Zlatko Horvat   PPD Zagreb 92

References

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  1. ^ "FINAL4_magazin_2018".
  2. ^ "Halil Jaganjac presented with regular season best scorer award in Skopje".
  3. ^ "Vardar crown record-breaking season with fourth trophy".
  4. ^ "SEHA league - official website".
  5. ^ "Vojvodina and Bosko Rudic part ways, Kukic to lead the team against Metalurg".
  6. ^ "Saracevic takes over as PPD Zagreb coach, Mandalinic to Berlin with immediate effect".
  7. ^ "Spring transfers in SEHA - Gazprom League".
  8. ^ "Place of the 7th Final 4 is finally known!".
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