# 2018–19 SEHA League

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.
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 | Meshkov Brest | Brest | Universal Sports Complex Victoria (3,740) |
| Croatia | PPD Zagreb | Zagreb | Sutinska Vrela Hall (2,000) |
| Croatia | Nexe | Našice | Sportska dvorana kralja Tomislava (2,500) |
| North Macedonia | Vardar | Skopje | Jane Sandanski Arena (7,500) |
| North Macedonia | Metalurg | Skopje | Boris Trajkovski Sports Center (8,000), Avtokomanda (2,000) |
| Serbia | Železničar | Niš | Čair Sports Center (4,800) |
| Serbia | 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

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

| Round | Club | Outgoing coach | Date of change | Incoming coach |
| 11th | PPD Zagreb | Lino Červar | 11 December 2018 | Tonči Valčić |
| 11th | PPD Zagreb | Tonči Valčić | 4 January 2019 | Branko Tamše |

## Regular season
### Standings

| 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 | Final four |
| 3 | Nexe | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 469 | 420 | +49 | 39 | Final four |
| 4 | Meshkov Brest | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 573 | 483 | +90 | 39 | Final four |
| 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 | |
* 1 2 3 PPD Zagreb 6 Pts, +2 GD; Nexe 6 Pts, 0 GD; Meshkov Brest 6 Pts, −2 GD

### Results

| 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 | |

## 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. 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

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| 2 April | 2 April |
| PPD Zagreb | 28 |
| PPD Zagreb | 28 | 3 April | 3 April |
| Nexe | 23 | 3 April | 3 April |
| Nexe | 23 | PPD Zagreb | 23 |
| 2 April | 2 April | | PPD Zagreb | 23 |
| 2 April | 2 April | Vardar | 26 |
| Vardar | 25 | Vardar | 26 |
| Meshkov Brest | 23 | | |
| Meshkov Brest | 23 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 3 April | 3 April |
| | | Nexe | 19 |
| | | Meshkov Brest | 24 |

#### Semifinals

| 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) |
| 2 April 2019 16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00) | Bičanić 7 | (18–15) | Buvinić 7 | Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest Attendance: 1,235 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB) |
| 2 April 2019 16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00) | 2× 2× | Report | 2× 3× | Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest Attendance: 1,235 Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB) |
| 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) |
| 2 April 2019 19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00) | Stoilov 7 | (14–10) | three players 3 | Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest Attendance: 3,420 Referees: Mandak, Rudinsky (SVK) |
| 2 April 2019 19:00 CEST (UTC+02:00) | 2× 2× | Report | 3× 4× | Universal Sports Complex Victoria, Brest Attendance: 3,420 Referees: Mandak, Rudinsky (SVK) |

#### Match for third place

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

#### Final

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

## Top goalscorers

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

## Awards

The all-star team was announced on 3 April 2019.
* Goalkeeper: Dejan Milosavljev (SRB)
* Right wing: Zlatko Horvat (CRO)
* Right back: Dainis Krištopāns (LAT)
* Centre back: Sandro Obranović (CRO)
* Left back: Damir Bičanić (CRO)
* Left wing: Timur Dibirov (RUS)
* Pivot: Stojanče Stoilov (MKD)
* Best Defender: Pavel Horák (CZE)
* MVP of the Final four: Dainis Krištopāns (LAT)