The BENE-League is a multinational
handball competition for men's teams from
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and
the Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, which started in January 2008 under the name BENE-LIGA. Between 2010 and 2014,
Luxembourg
Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...
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
Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...
,
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.
2023–24 season
:''Below is the list of clubs that are members of the
2023–24 BENE-League Handball season.''
Below is the list of winners, finalists and other participants of Final four BENE-League tournaments.
Hosts
Records and statistics
By club
By country
External links
Official website
{{EHF leagues
BENE
Handball in the Netherlands
Handball leagues in Belgium
BENE
Professional sports leagues in the Netherlands
Professional sports leagues in Belgium
Multi-national professional sports leagues
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