The 2018–19 SEHA League season was the eighth season of the SEHA (South East Handball Association) League and fifth under the sponsorship of the Russian oil and gas company Gazprom. Ten teams from seven countries (Belarus, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania) were participating in this year's competition.[4][5][6]

2018-19 SEHA League season
LeagueSEHA League
SportHandball
Number of games90 (regular season)
94 (including F4 tournament)
Number of teams10
 Belarus (1 team)
 Croatia (2 teams)
 North Macedonia (2 teams)
 Serbia (2 teams)
 Slovakia (1 team)
 Romania (1 team)
 Bosnia and Herzegovina (1 team)
Regular season
Season championsNorth Macedonia Vardar
Season MVPCroatia Zlatko Horvat[1]
Top scorerSerbia Miloš Grozdanić
(102 goals)[2]
Final Four
Finals championsNorth Macedonia Vardar[3]
  Runners-upCroatia PPD Zagreb
Finals MVPLatvia Dainis Krištopāns
SEHA League seasons

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

Final four tournament was held in Brest, Republic of Belarus, on 2nd and 3 April. RK Vardar defeated PPD Zagreb 26–23 in the final to win their fifth title.

Team information

edit

Venues and locations

edit
Country Team City Venue (Capacity)
  Belarus Meshkov Brest Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria (3,740)
  Croatia PPD Zagreb Zagreb Sutinska Vrela Hall (2,000)
Nexe Našice Sportska dvorana kralja Tomislava (2,500)
  North Macedonia Vardar Skopje Jane Sandanski Arena (7,500)
Metalurg Skopje Boris Trajkovski Sports Center (8,000), Avtokomanda (2,000)
  Serbia Železničar Niš Čair Sports Center (4,800)
Vojvodina Novi Sad SPENS (11,000), SC Slana Bara (2,000)
  Slovakia Tatran Prešov Prešov City Hall Prešov (4,870)
  Bosnia and Herzegovina Izviđač Ljubuški Ljubuški Sports Hall (4,000)
  Romania Steaua București Bucharest Sala Polivalentă (5,300), Sala Sporturilor Concordia (1,465)

Personnel and kits

edit

Following is the list of clubs competing in 2018–19 SEHA League, with their manager, team captain, kit manufacturer and shirt sponsor.

Team Head coach Team captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (main)
Meshkov Brest   Manolo Cadenas   Siarhei Shylovich Joma BelGazpromBank
PPD Zagreb   Branko Tamše   Zlatko Horvat Hummel Prvo Plinarsko Društvo
Nexe   Hrvoje Horvat   Vedran Zrnić Jako Nexe
Vardar   Roberto García Parrondo   Stojanče Stoilov Hummel Bet City
Metalurg   Danilo Brestovac   Mario Tankoski Kempa ReMedika
Železničar   Veselin Vujović   Milan Vučković ASICS Macron
Vojvodina   Boris Rojević   Vukašin Stojanović NAAI Grad Novi Sad
Tatran Prešov   Slavko Goluža   Radovan Pekár ATAK Sportswear Phoenix
Izviđač   Silvio Ivandija   Vedran Delić Hummel Central Osiguranje
Steaua București   Ovidiu Mihăilă   Marius Stavrositu Luanvi Fundația Alexandrion

Coaching changes

edit
Round Club Outgoing coach Date of change Incoming coach
11th PPD Zagreb   Lino Červar[7] 11 December 2018   Tonči Valčić
11th PPD Zagreb   Tonči Valčić[8] 4 January 2019   Branko Tamše

Regular season

edit

Standings

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1   Vardar 18 14 0 4 512 467 +45 42 Final four
2   PPD Zagreb 18 13 0 5 484 442 +42 39[a]
3   Nexe 18 13 0 5 469 420 +49 39[a]
4   Meshkov Brest 18 13 0 5 573 483 +90 39[a]
5   Tatran Prešov 18 12 0 6 493 444 +49 36
6   Vojvodina 18 7 1 10 441 483 −42 22
7   Steaua București 18 6 0 12 460 524 −64 18
8   Železničar 18 5 1 12 463 507 −44 16
9   Metalurg 18 4 1 13 494 534 −40 13
10   Izviđač 18 1 1 16 444 529 −85 4
Source: SEHA Standings
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c PPD Zagreb 6 Pts, +2 GD; Nexe 6 Pts, 0 GD; Meshkov Brest 6 Pts, −2 GD

Results

edit
Home \ Away   MES   ZAG   NEX   VAR   MET   IZV   VOJ   TAT   ZEL   STE
  Meshkov Brest 31–26 25–30 35–20 41–29 40–22 35–19 28–32 28–20 35–21
  PPD Zagreb 29–24 20–17 26–23 26–22 36–25 25–23 28–29 30–28 24–17
  Nexe 26–29 23–22 24–21 26–23 22–17 29–23 27–22 34–25 28–23
  Vardar 30–32 28–26 31–26 34–28 38–27 33–26 23–21 35–20 27–21
  Metalurg 28–34 24–36 27–32 26–27 27–27 39–20 30–28 29–30 28–29
  Izviđač 29–33 21–22 23–24 28–31 30–31 23–25 22–26 29–24 28–29
  Vojvodina 29–23 20–23 26–21 23–26 31–30 26–18 17–27 27–27 28–25
  Tatran Prešov 21–35 31–21 26–24 26–27 30–20 29–22 31–24 27–26 26–19
  Železničar 30–32 32–33 18–25 22–24 27–25 30–21 20–27 25–36 28–21
  Steaua București 42–33 24–31 19–31 30–34 26–28 36–32 28–27 26–25 24–31
Source: SEHA Fixtures and Results
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final Four

edit

The SEHA - Gazprom League Executive Committee had made the decision for the final four tournament to be held at the Universal Sports Complex Victoria in Brest, Republic of Belarus, on 2nd and 3 April.[9] 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.

Bracket

edit
 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
2 April
 
 
  PPD Zagreb28
 
3 April
 
  Nexe23
 
  PPD Zagreb23
 
2 April
 
  Vardar26
 
  Vardar25
 
 
  Meshkov Brest23
 
Third place
 
 
3 April
 
 
  Nexe19
 
 
  Meshkov Brest24

Semifinals

edit
2 April 2019
16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)
PPD Zagreb   28–23   Nexe Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 1,235
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Bičanić 7 (18–15) Buvinić 7
  2×  Report   3× 

2 April 2019
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Vardar   25–23   Meshkov Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,420
Referees: Mandak, Rudinsky (SVK)
Stoilov 7 (14–10) three players 3
  2×  Report   4× 

Match for third place

edit
3 April 2019
16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Nexe   19–24   Meshkov Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,270
Referees: Stark, Ştefan (ROU)
Jaganjac, Šipić 5 (8–12) Baranau 5
  1×  Report   3× 

Final

edit
3 April 2019
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)
PPD Zagreb   23–26   Vardar Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,210
Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
Mrakovčić 4 (12–14) Krištopāns 7
  5×  2×  Report   1×  1× 

Top goalscorers

edit
Rank Player Club Goals[10]
1   Miloš Grozdanić   Vojvodina 102
2   Bruno Butorac   Tatran Prešov 90
3   Halil Jaganjac   Nexe 85

Awards

edit

The all-star team was announced on 3 April 2019.[11]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Best 7 of the regular season - elected by captains". SEHA League. 21 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Meet the new member of the "Club 100" and the top scorer of the eighth season - Milos Grozdanic". SEHA League. 19 March 2019.
  3. ^ "They made it again: Seven Kristopans goals pave Vardar's way to the fifth trophy". SEHA League. 3 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Participants of the 8th SEHA - Gazprom League season". SEHA League. 27 July 2018.
  5. ^ "CSA Steaua Bucuresti to play SEHA - Gazprom League 8th season". SEHA League. 14 August 2018.
  6. ^ "New teams, same favourites in SEHA league". Eurohandball. 28 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Lino Cervar to leave RK PPD Zagreb bench: Life is full of up and down moments". HandballPlanet. 22 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Branko Tamše preuzima PPD Zagreb!". Balkanhandball. 4 January 2019.
  9. ^ "8th SEHA – Gazprom League Final 4 to be held in Brest, Belarus". SEHA League. 11 March 2019.
  10. ^ Goalscorers
  11. ^ "Dainis Kristopans MVP of the Final 4, All Star Team announced". SEHA League. 3 April 2019.
edit