The eleventh edition of the SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 is about to be thrown off at Zadar, for the third time in a row in the same playing hall. PPD Zagreb, Nexe, Telekom Veszprem and Eurofarm Pelister have qualified from the quarter-final matches for the pinnacle event of the season. Here are the most important Facts and Figures of the previous 10 SEHA -Gazprom League Final 4 events.

1 team only - HC PPD Zagreb - had been part of all ten SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournaments since the premiere in 2012. Vardar participated in nine Final 4 events and was ruled out in 2021 only by COVID-19 cases.

1 club has its debut at the SEHA Final 4 2022 – Eurofarm Pelister.

1 city – Zadar –is hosting the Final 4 for the third time. Two cities hosted the event twice: Skopje 2013 and 2018, and Brest 2017 and 2019. Besides, Zadar was the third Croatian host city after Zagreb in 2012 and Varazdin in 2016. Novi Sad (Serbia/2014) and Veszprem (Hungary/2015) hosted each tournament.

2 previous winners of the ten previous SEHA Final 4 tournaments (Zagreb and Veszprem) are part of the competition.

2 of the current quarter-finals needed to be decided in penalty shoot-out: Nexe vs Vardar (32:30) and Eurofarm Pelister vs Meshkov Brest (27:26).

2 times, the defending SEHA - Gazprom League champion was the defending EHF Champions League champion at the same time: the Vardar in 2016/17 and the 2018/19 season.

2 times in the history of the previous SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournaments, two teams from the same country dueled in a semi-final: in 2013, when the Vardar beat Metalurg 22:21, and in 2019, when Zagreb beat Nexe 28:23. Now again, Zagreb will face Nexe in the semi at Zadar. Never in ten years, two teams from the same country faced in a final.

2 Final 4 hosts - Veszprem (in 2015) and Vardar (in 2018) - managed to raise the trophy on home ground. In 2012, Zagreb missed the final on home ground, in 2013, Vardar lost the final at Skopje against Zagreb. In 2017 and 2019, Meshkov Brest finished third-ranked.

3 different clubs only have won the ten Final 4 tournaments of the SEHA - Gazprom League: record winners Vardar 1961 (2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019), Telekom Veszprem (2015, 2016, 2020, 2021) and Zagreb (2013). Only Vardar and Veszprem managed to defend their titles.

4 clubs - Zagreb, Vardar, Tatran Presov and Nexe - are part of the SEHA - Gazprom League since the start of the 2011/12 season.

4 times in the history of the SEHA - Gazprom League (2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020), Vardar, Zagreb, Brest and Veszprem composed the field of participants of the SEHA Final 4

5 times - every time they were part of the competition - Veszprem made it to the SEHA - Gazprom League final. Four times, they won it, and in 2017, they lost it against the Vardar.

5 different countries - Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, North Macedonia and Belarus - hosted the Final 4 tournaments of the SEHA - Gazprom League.

6 teams were part of the 2015 edition of the SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 in Veszprem, as for the first and only time, quarter-finals had opened the event.

7 nations were represented by the originally 10 clubs, which were part of the SEHA - Gazprom League season 2021/22: Croatia (2), North Macedonia (2), Serbia (2), Slovakia, Hungary, Belarus and Ukraine.

8 times in total, Vardar made it to the final of the SEHA - Gazprom League (2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) - now the Macedonian record champions missed the SEHA Final 4 for the second time in a row.

9 times, Vardar team captain Stojanche Stoilov was part of the SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournaments and is also the record winner of five trophies. Zlatko Horvat played eight Final 4 tournaments for Zagreb.

9 times at nine Final 4 events in a row from 2012 until 2020 Vardar and Zagreb had locked horns. In 2013, Zagreb won the final 25:24 after extra time, in 2018 and 2019, the Vardar turned the page around to win the final 26:24 and 26:23. In 2012 (30:29), 2014 (30:22), 2016 (26:24), 2017 (36:28) and 2020 (30:29 after penalties) the Vardar took the upper hand in the semi-finals, in 2015, Zagreb won in the bronze medal match 26:23.

10 different players had been MVP of the ten SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournaments, but only three clubs were represented by them: Zagreb (Zlatko Horvat/2012), Vardar (Strahinja Milic/2013, Timur Dibirov/2014, Joan Canellas/2017, Luka Cindric/2018 and Dainis Kristopans/2019) and Veszprem (Chema Rodriguez/2015, Momir Ilic/2016, Rodrigo Corrales/2020 and Petar Nenadic/2021).

10 different teams qualified for the SEHA  Final 4 from 2012 until 2022: Zagreb (11 times including 2022), Vardar, Meshkov Brest (each 9 times), Veszprem (6 times), Presov, Metalurg, Nexe (each 2 times), Motor Zaporozhye, Celje and Eurofarm Pelister  (each 1 time).

11 goals had been the biggest difference in any finals of the SEHA - Gazprom League so far, when host Veszprem clashed Meshkov Brest 32:21 in 2015, ahead of the 2020 final at Zadar, when Veszprem beat Vardar 35:27.  The 2021 edition – Telekom Vezsprem vs PPD Zagreb - was the first one to be decided in a penalty shootout.

13 of 16 matches at eight Final 4 events, were won by the Vardar, while Telekom Veszprem won nine of ten matches at four tournaments so far.

13 different countries have been represented by clubs since the start of the SEHA - Gazprom League in the 2011/12 season: Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Montenegro, Slovakia, Hungary, Belarus, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and PR China.

29 different clubs had been participating in the SEHA - Gazprom League since their start in the 2011/12 season.

682 goals were scored by Zlatko Horvat for PPD Zagreb to be the All-time top scorer of the SEHA - Gazprom League. Second-ranked is Timur Dibirov by 583 goals for the Vardar and PPD Zagreb - and he still is part of the competition.

2156 goals were scored in all previous SEHA - Gazprom League Final 4 tournaments (semi-finals, bronze medal matches and final matches) so far.

Photo credit: kolektiffimages