Since 2011, when the SEHA – Gazprom League appeared at the handball scene, it is progressing in numerous aspects every year. Nevertheless, we are especially proud of one thing, our cultural diversity. So, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, that we celebrate today, has a special place in our hearts.

We are a League that in its first season, nine years ago, started with 12 clubs from six surrounding countries. Today is a different story. In the ninth season, we proudly present the same number of clubs, but 9 countries from a much wider geographical area.

Among those 9 countries is also China. SEHA made a move that is rarely seen, hosting Chinese youngsters Beijing Sport University, led by famous Croatian goalkeeper, today’s coach Vlado Sola. Their arrival in the SEHA League brought even more diversity, but also new challenges that SEHA gladly accepted. This novelty in the SEHA’s line-up only confirmed the fact that our League is more international than - ever.

Furthermore, our players are coming from 25 different countries and four continents – Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. It is also proof that European and regional handball is opening up more and more to the world, which is certainly a good indicator for the future. As an interesting fact, among this season’s clubs, Telekom Veszprem is the club with most different player’s nationalities (11) in their roster.

We take every opportunity to embrace it – once we sent Nexe’s players back to school with professor Horvat so that they can easier communicate with their SEHA colleagues. Other than that, we also adhere to the cultural customs of all our countries. Let’s not forget when Mijajlo Marsenic and Daniil Shishkarev, former Vardar stars, tried to learn Skopje’s traditional dances with ensemble ‘’Tanec’’.

Countries that had players or coaches in the 2019/20 season are:
Algeria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine.