BENE-League Handball

BENE-League

Founded	2008
First season	2008
No. of teams	11
Country	Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg (former)
Confederation	EHF
Most recent champion(s)	Achilles Bocholt
Most titles	Achilles Bocholt (5 titles)
Level on pyramid	1
Official website	Website
2020–21 season

The BENE-League is a multinational handball competition for men's teams from Belgium and the Netherlands, which started in January 2008 under the name BENE-LIGA. Between 2010 and 2014, Luxembourg teams also participated in the tournament that was then called Benelux League.

History

The idea of setting up a collaboration between the Belgian and Dutch top clubs dates back to the 1980s. However, as in many other sports, it was mainly talked about. However, in 2006 it all became more concrete. A system was devised to better frame the friendly matches from the preparation period, and a knock-out system was set up: quarter-finals in round-trip matches between the top 4 from Belgium and the Netherlands, and the winners would compete in a Final 4. At the end of 2007 it was announced that eight teams from the Netherlands and Belgium would compete against each other. The goal was to start a full Bene Liga competition in 2010 with more teams from the Low Countries.

The first edition of the Bene Liga was played in 2008 as a kind of cup formula. On the Belgian side, the first was kicked off by Initia Hasselt, Tongeren, Neerpelt and KV Sasja HC. Volendam, Aalsmeer, Hellas and Bevo HC from the Netherlands took part. The start of the BENE-Liga was, symbolically, announced in Baarle-Hertog. Evert ten Napel, a well-known Dutch sports reporter led the press conference. In the first edition of the BENE-Liga, KV Sasja became champion.

2020–21 season

Below is the list of clubs that are members of the 2019–20 BENE-League Handball season.

Country	Team	City	Venue
Belgium	Achilles Bocholt	Bocholt	Sportcomplex De Damburg
	HC AtomiX	Haacht	Sporthal Den Dijk
	Hubo Initia Hasselt	Hasselt	Sporthal Alverberg
	Sporting Pelt	Neerpelt	Dommelhof
	Handbal Tongeren	Tongeren	Eburons Dôme
	HC Visé BM	Visé	Hall Omnisports de Visé
Netherlands	Green Park Handbal Aalsmeer	Aalsmeer	Sporthal De Bloemhof
	Herpertz Bevo HC	Panningen	SportArena De Heuf
	JD Techniek/Hurry-Up	Zwartemeer	Succes Holidayparcs Arena
	KEMBIT-LIONS	Sittard-Geleen	Stadssporthal Sittard
	KRAS/Volendam	Volendam	Sporthal de Opperdam

Below is the list of winners, finalists and other participants of Final four BENE-League tournaments.

Year	Host		Final				Match for third place
			Champion	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2008 Details	Lommel		KV Sasja HC	24-31	Eurotech/Bevo HC		Initia Hasselt	31–29	United HC Tongeren
2008–09 Details	Tongeren		FIQAS/Aalsmeer	33-27	KRAS/Volendam		Initia Hasselt	29-27	KV Sasja HC
2009–10 Details	Luxembourg City		KRAS/Volendam	33-30	Achilles Bocholt		Pals groep/E&O	34-33	United HC Tongeren
2010–11 Details	Hoboken		KRAS/Volendam	32-29	HC Berchem		United HC Tongeren	32-22	Initia Hasselt
2011–12 Details	Volendam		KRAS/Volendam	30-24	Initia Hasselt		United HC Tongeren	33-23	OCI-LIONS
2012–13 Details	Houthalen-Helchteren		Achilles Bocholt	35-29	KRAS/Volendam		Initia Hasselt	30-29	Kremer/Hurry-Up
2013–14 Details	Differdange		Initia Hasselt	31-18	OCI-LIONS		HC Achilles Bocholt	31-28	KRAS/Volendam
2014–15 Details	Hasselt		OCI-LIONS	27-25	Targos Bevo HC		United HC Tongeren	24–22	Hubo I. Hasselt
2015–16 Details	Sittard		Hubo I. Hasselt	35-34	OCI-LIONS		Targos Bevo HC	32-22	QubiQ A. Bocholt
2016–17 Details	Hasselt		Achilles Bocholt	38-37	OCI-LIONS		Callant Tongeren	32-22	Hubo I. Hasselt
2017–18 Details	's-Hertogenbosch		Achilles Bocholt	34-31	OCI-LIONS		FIQAS/Aalsmeer	29-28	Hubo I. Hasselt
2018–19 Details	Antwerp		Achilles Bocholt	35-34	HC Visé BM		OCI-LIONS	32-22	Green Park/Aalsmeer
2019–20 Details	's-Hertogenbosch		Achilles Bocholt		KEMBIT-LIONS		Herpertz Bevo HC		HC Visé BM

Hosts

Year	Final four host	Hall	Date
2008	Lommel	Sportcentrum de Soeverein	30 Juny–1 July 2008
2008–09	Tongeren	Eburons Dôme	30-31 May 2009
2009–10	Luxembourg City	Coque Sport Cente	20-21 February 2010
2010–11	Hoboken	Sporthal Sport VIII	26-27 February 2011
2011–12	Volendam	Sporthal de Opperdam	3-4 March 2012
2012–13	Houthalen-Helchteren	Sportpark Lakerveld	?
2013–14	Differdange	Differdange Sports Center	?
2014–15	Hasselt	Sporthal de Alverberg	7-8 February 2015
2015–16	Sittard	Topsporthal Fitland XL Sittard	6-7 February 2016
2016–17	Hasselt	Sporthal de Alverberg	25-26 February 2017
2017–19	's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort	17-18 March 2018
2018–19	Antwerpen	Lotto Arena	30-31 March 2019
2019–20	's-Hertogenbosch	Maaspoort	14-15 March 2020

Records and statistics

By club

Club	Won	Runner-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Bocholt	5	1	2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020	2010
Volendam	3	2	2010, 2011, 2012	2009, 2013
Hasselt	2	1	2014, 2016	2012
Limburg Lions	1	5	2015	2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
Aalsmeer	1	0	2009
Sasja	1	0	2008
Bevo HC	0	2		2008, 2014
Berchem	0	1		2011
HC Visé BM	0	1		2019

By country

Club / Nation	Won	Runner-up	Finals
Belgium	8	3	11
Netherlands	5	9	14
Luxembourg	0	1	1
Total	13	13	26

External links

• Official website