SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 winners
Nine SEHA – Gazprom Final 4 tournaments have been hosted by seven cities: Zagreb, Skopje, Novi Sad, Veszprem, Varazdin, Brest and Zadar. But, only three teams have managed to overpower the strong competition and finish their season on the winners' podium. Vardar 1961 are still leading when it comes to SEHA – Gazprom League trophies, having won five of them. Telekom Veszprem are trying to catch up and dethrone the team from Skopje, but are still two trophies behind them. PPD Zagreb lifted the winners' silverware on one occasion and the only time they have done it was more than eight years ago.
Most decorated team, Vardar 1961, was also the first one to win the trophy. They finished first in the regular season and then defeated PPD Zagreb in a tense Semi-Final clash. After that came Metalurg, who they have beaten in a very low-scoring title match (21:18).
Their second title came in 2014. After finishing only third in the league, they had to search for redemption in Novi Sad. And they got it after two astonishing matches against PPD Zagreb (30:22) and Meshkov Brest (29:27), which proved once again they should never be counted out.
Then, in 2017, they took over the whole league with their style of play and showed pure efficiency. That resulted in three consecutive victories for the 'Red and Black'. Telekom Veszprem went down in Brest the same year (26:21), while PPD Zagreb lost in 2018 (26:24) and 2019 (26:23) to make Vardar 1961 the most achieved club in the league.
The city of Veszprem celebrated SEHA – Gazprom League championships three times. Two of the wins happened during their first two seasons in the league, while the last one took place in Zadar in 2020. In 2015 in Hungary, Telekom Veszprem celebrated the most convincing win in SEHA – Gazprom history when they triumphed over Meshkov Brest (32:21).
Varazdin was the host city the following year. Telekom Veszprem were once again dominant througout the regular season and had their eyes on the prize, which eventually ended in their cabinet. They won against Vardar 1961 (28:26) and were crowned the defending champions. The most interesting thing about their back-to-back championships is definitely the fact that they only lost one match in two 20-match seasons.
Hungarians withdrew from the league at the end of the 2016/2017 season and were absent for the next two years. But, when they came back the whole team was ready to win some more. They did it, of course, in 2020 after a solid Group Phase and a great Finals performance versus Vardar 1961 (35:27) by Rodrigo Corrales (14 saves), who is still the reigning MVP. That means Veszprem are the proud owners of two biggest margins in SEHA – Gazprom Final matches.
PPD Zagreb had their spotlight moment in the 2012/2013 season. It was a sweet revenge over Vardar 1961, who did the same to them in Zagreb only one year earlier. Luka Stepancic and Jerko Matulic combined for 14 goals and got through the eye of a needle in Extra time. They are still waiting for a similar spark that could bring them back to the podium after eight years of settling for second, third and fourth places.
Almost ten years later, we are on a search for another SEHA champion. Who would have thought that we would come this far?! But, nobody is happier than us that it did play out this way.