2018–19 SEHA League

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

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]

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

Venues and locations

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

Personnel and kits

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 Spain Manolo Cadenas Belarus Siarhei Shylovich Joma BelGazpromBank
PPD Zagreb Slovenia Branko Tamše Croatia Zlatko Horvat Hummel Prvo Plinarsko Društvo
Nexe Croatia Hrvoje Horvat Croatia Vedran Zrnić Jako Nexe
Vardar Spain Roberto García Parrondo North Macedonia Stojanče Stoilov Hummel Bet City
Metalurg North Macedonia Danilo Brestovac North Macedonia Mario Tankoski Kempa ReMedika
Železničar Montenegro Veselin Vujović Serbia Milan Vučković ASICS Macron
Vojvodina Serbia Boris Rojević Serbia Vukašin Stojanović NAAI Grad Novi Sad
Tatran Prešov Croatia Slavko Goluža Slovakia Radovan Pekár ATAK Sportswear Phoenix
Izviđač Croatia Silvio Ivandija Bosnia and Herzegovina Vedran Delić Hummel Central Osiguranje
Steaua București Romania Ovidiu Mihăilă Romania Marius Stavrositu Luanvi Fundația Alexandrion

Coaching changes

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

Regular season

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 North Macedonia Vardar 18 14 0 4 512 467 +45 42 Final four
2 Croatia PPD Zagreb 18 13 0 5 484 442 +42 39[a]
3 Croatia Nexe 18 13 0 5 469 420 +49 39[a]
4 Belarus Meshkov Brest 18 13 0 5 573 483 +90 39[a]
5 Slovakia Tatran Prešov 18 12 0 6 493 444 +49 36
6 Serbia Vojvodina 18 7 1 10 441 483 −42 22
7 Romania Steaua București 18 6 0 12 460 524 −64 18
8 Serbia Železničar 18 5 1 12 463 507 −44 16
9 North Macedonia Metalurg 18 4 1 13 494 534 −40 13
10 Bosnia and Herzegovina 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

Home \ Away Belarus MES Croatia ZAG Croatia NEX North Macedonia VAR North Macedonia MET Bosnia and Herzegovina IZV Serbia VOJ Slovakia TAT Serbia ZEL Romania STE
Belarus Meshkov Brest 31–26 25–30 35–20 41–29 40–22 35–19 28–32 28–20 35–21
Croatia PPD Zagreb 29–24 20–17 26–23 26–22 36–25 25–23 28–29 30–28 24–17
Croatia Nexe 26–29 23–22 24–21 26–23 22–17 29–23 27–22 34–25 28–23
North Macedonia Vardar 30–32 28–26 31–26 34–28 38–27 33–26 23–21 35–20 27–21
North Macedonia Metalurg 28–34 24–36 27–32 26–27 27–27 39–20 30–28 29–30 28–29
Bosnia and Herzegovina Izviđač 29–33 21–22 23–24 28–31 30–31 23–25 22–26 29–24 28–29
Serbia Vojvodina 29–23 20–23 26–21 23–26 31–30 26–18 17–27 27–27 28–25
Slovakia Tatran Prešov 21–35 31–21 26–24 26–27 30–20 29–22 31–24 27–26 26–19
Serbia Železničar 30–32 32–33 18–25 22–24 27–25 30–21 20–27 25–36 28–21
Romania 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

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

 
SemifinalsFinal
 
      
 
2 April
 
 
Croatia PPD Zagreb28
 
3 April
 
Croatia Nexe23
 
Croatia PPD Zagreb23
 
2 April
 
North Macedonia Vardar26
 
North Macedonia Vardar25
 
 
Belarus Meshkov Brest23
 
Third place
 
 
3 April
 
 
Croatia Nexe19
 
 
Belarus Meshkov Brest24

Semifinals

2 April 2019
16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00) 		PPD Zagreb Croatia 28–23 Croatia Nexe Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 1,235
Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
Bičanić 7 (18–15) Buvinić 7
2×Yellow card 2×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 2×Yellow card 3×number 2 in light blue rounded square
2 April 2019
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00) 		Vardar North Macedonia 25–23 Belarus Meshkov Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,420
Referees: Mandak, Rudinsky (SVK)
Stoilov 7 (14–10) three players 3
2×Yellow card 2×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 3×Yellow card 4×number 2 in light blue rounded square

Match for third place

3 April 2019
16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00) 		Nexe Croatia 19–24 Belarus Meshkov Brest Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,270
Referees: Stark, Ştefan (ROU)
Jaganjac, Šipić 5 (8–12) Baranau 5
3×Yellow card 1×number 2 in light blue rounded square Report 3×Yellow card 3×number 2 in light blue rounded square

Final

3 April 2019
19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00) 		PPD Zagreb Croatia 23–26 North Macedonia Vardar Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest
Attendance: 3,210
Referees: Pavićević, Ražnatović (MNE)
Mrakovčić 4 (12–14) Krištopāns 7
2×Yellow card 5×number 2 in light blue rounded square 2×Red card Report 1×Yellow card 1×number 2 in light blue rounded square 1×Red card

Top goalscorers

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

Awards

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

References

  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.