The 2020–21

SEHA League South East Handball Association League or simply SEHA League is a regional men's club handball league in Southeast and East Europe, divided in two zones. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is also known as the Gazprom League (or Gazprom South ...

was the 10th season of the SEHA (South East Handball Association) League and seventh under the sponsorship of the Russian oil and gas company

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...

. Ten teams from seven countries (

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

participated in this year's competition.

Competition format

The competition begins with a group stage featuring 10 teams divided in two groups. Matches are played in a double round-robin system with home-and-away fixtures. In Groups A and B, the top two teams qualify for the quarterfinals, with teams ranked 3rd and 4th entering the playoffs. After conducted analysis and due to occasions occurred by global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, along with correlation of European calendar issues, on 14 December 2020 in a meeting, the SEHA–Gazprom League Executive Committee has decided that, two clubs,

Telekom Veszprém Telekom may refer to: *A1 Telekom Austria Group, Austria **A1 Telekom Austria *Deutsche Telekom, Germany **Hrvatski Telekom, Croatia **Magyar Telekom, Hungary **Crnogorski Telekom, Montenegro **Makedonski Telekom, North Macedonia **Telekom Romania, ...

(2019/20 winner) and Meshkov Brest (COVID-19 issues) will be directly included in the quarterfinals and will not play in the Group phase. ;Play-offs In the play-offs, teams ranked 3rd and 4th in Group A and B are paired against each other in two-legged home-and-away matches. The two aggregate winners of the playoffs will advance to the quarter-finals joining the top-two teams of Groups A and B and

and Meshkov Brest who will directly play in the quarter-finals. ;Quarter-finals The two winners of the matches in the play-off phase, joined by the top two of Groups A and B, and

and Meshkov Brest, who are playing directly in the quarter-finals will play in home and away for the right to contest the SEHA Final 4. ;SEHA Final 4 The culmination of the season, the SEHA Final 4, continues in its existing format, with the four top teams from the competition competing for the title over one weekend.

Team information

The SEHA – Gazprom League Executive Committee made a decision that 10 participants will play in this season.

Venues and locations

Group phase

In the group phase, each team played six matches within their respective groups. Three matches were played at home, and three matches away. The final position after the six rounds determined if a club will play in the play-off phase or if they will earn a direct placement to the quarter-finals phase.

Group A

Group B

Playoffs

The Play off phase was made up of two matches for each participating team, one match played at home and one match played away. The teams that finished the Group Phase in positions 3–4 played in the Play-off phase.

Quarter-finals

There will be eight teams competing in the quarter-finals phase. Four teams will have earned a direct placement after the Group Phase, two teams,

and Meshkov Brest, directly played in quarter-finals due to

and two additional teams will have earned a quarter-finals spot through the playoff phase. The matches will be played between 21 and 26 August 2021 (first leg) and 26 and 31 August 2021 (second leg).

Final Four

The four winners of the quarter-final matches qualify for the right to contest the SEHA final four. The Final Four will be played between 3 and 5 September 2021. Due to the fact that the health authorities of the Republic of Croatia have conducted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

test in the team of HC Vardar 1961 on 31 August 2021, and have received a positive test for one team member. They have imposed the isolation for the positive-tested team member and people who were in contact with this team member, while for the rest of the team there is a possibility of a virus transmition. The Executive Committee made a decision that HC Vardar 1961 is excluded from the Final 4. Since HC PPD Zagreb was playing against HC Vardar 1961 in the quarter-finals of the competition, and due to the fact that they were the best ranked team of the regular part of the season, the Executive Committee also made a decision that HC PPD Zagreb will be invited to the Final 4 as a substitute team.

Bracket

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:SEHA League SEHA League 2020–21 domestic handball leagues

2020 in handball 2021 in handball 2020 in European sport 2021 in European sport