2022 SEHA League Preview Favor Veszprem and Zagreb to Reach the Final

The Final Four of the 2021/22 Seha League is held this weekend, between 2 – 4 September in Zagreb, Croatia. We can find in the last four teams the defending champions, Telekom Veszprem, and the runners-up, PPD Zagreb. 

2022 SEHA League preview favors both teams to win their semi-finals and get to the final. Veszprem will meet North Macedonian Eurofarm Pelister, while Zagreb play against another Croatian club, Nexe in the other game after other top teams have been knocked out in the previous round. 

The SEHA League is a regional tournament for men’s handball teams in Southeast Europe, involving teams from Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The first tournament was held in the 2010/11 season with North Macedonian Vardar becoming the first champion. They have been the most successful team so far with five wins. 

But the Hungarian champions, Telekom Veszprem follow them closely with four victories. Veszprem will have a chance of equalling their rival’s record after getting to the last four this season again. Unlike Vardar, who lost against Croatian team Nexe in the quarter-final. They will meet Zagreb in the first semi-final. While Veszprem will play against Pelister in the other match. This year’s Final Four is held in Zadar this weekend, with the final on Sunday. 

2022 SEHA League Preview for Croatian Duel 

Nexe Nasice reached the last four of the SEHA League only for the second time in the tournament’s history. They knocked out five-time winner RK Vardar in the quarter-final after winning the penalty shootout. The Croatian team had its best season last year as they got to the Final Four of the EHF European League. Even though they finished there fourth, it was a great result from Branko Temse’s team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3C8GAgfoIA

Nexe will try to achieve a similar result this season and perform well in the SEHA League. Players like the goalkeeper Dominik Kuzmanovic, who was brilliant against Vardar, Janko Kevic, and Luka Moslavac can be key to success. Along with new arrivals, Ivan Srrsen and Marko Racic. 

Still, it will be a tough job to beat the Croatian champions, PPD Zagreb on Friday. Ivica Obrvan’s team also needed the penalty shootout to win against RK Vojvodina in the previous round. Zagreb finished as a runner-up in last year’s tournament which they have won once so far, in 2013. They defeated Nexe at their last SEHA League meeting in 2019 and the team is favored to win again by online sportsbooks in Croatia.

Their odds to win are 1.43 while Nexe’s odds for the victory are 3.66. It is not surprising as Zagreb has such top players on its roster as Russian Timur Dibirov who arrived from Vardar. Or Vuko Borozan who is another new signing of the club. Young stars like Luka Klarica and Milan Milic can also help the team to win and get to the final. 

Veszprem is the Huge Favorite of the Other Semi-Final

Telekom Veszprem is the defending champion and the top favorite to win the cup again. First, though they need to get through Eurofarm Pelister in the second semi-final. Veszprem didn’t have the best end of the season after finishing only second in the Hungarian Championship behind Pick-Szeged. And losing against Kielce and TWH Kiel in the EHF Champions League Final Four.

Now Momir Ilicic’s squad wants to have a good start and perform well in this tournament. The club signed Icelandic Bjarki Mar Elisson, Egyptian star Yehia El-Deraa and Belarussian Mikita Vailupau from Nantes. They can all strengthen the already strong squad which has the odds of 1.092 to win against Pelister. 

The North Macedonian team makes its debut in the Final Four after knocking out Meskov Brest in the quarter-final. The team just like the Croatian clubs won the penalty shootout against the Belarusians following a 24-24 tie. A similar result against the defending champions would be a huge surprise though. It has an odds of 11.00 on online gambling sites in Croatia.

But Pelister can’t be underestimated in spite of lots of players leaving the club in the summer. As new ones also arrived like Slovenian goalkeeper Urban Lesjak, French international Rudy Seri, and Tunisian Oussama Hosni. The team also got a new coach in Danish Lars Walter who worked at other top clubs like Esbjerg before. In the absence of Vardar, Pelister will represent North Macedonia and will aim for a good result for sure.

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