From 21 – 30 August 2015 sixteen of the best teams in Europe are coming to London to compete in EuroHockey 2015 at England Hockey’s brand new hockey venue – Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
To start the event eight teams for each gender will be split into two pools of four, and each team will play everyone within their pool once. Three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss will determine who then goes on to play who in the pool crossover stage. The highest ranked teams from each pool play the second-highest ranked teams from the other pool in the semi-finals, while the remaining teams start the play-offs to determine positions five through eight.
Competing Teams
Men
Germany
England
Netherlands
Belgium
Spain
Ireland
Russia
France
Women
Germany
England
Netherlands
Belgium
Spain
Scotland
Italy
Poland
Most recently, England’s Women won silver at the 2013 Championship in Boom, Belgium.
Founded in 1970 by the European Hockey Federation, the EuroHockey Nations Championship initially began as a men’s-only competition, with the women’s event being added in 1980. Organised by the European Hockey Federation, the EuroHockey Nations Championship involves the top eight European national teams competing for glory.
Originally played every four years and now every two since 2003, over the years Germany (men) and the Netherlands (women) have been the most successful participants in the EuroHockey Nations Championships, each with a total of eight titles out of the 14 championships that have been played, while England is in the top four for both genders.
Both will be playing with the home advantage next time around though, as in 2015 the event us staged in London, eight years after England last hosted the event in Manchester where England’s women came third and Germany and the Netherlands came out on top of the women’s and men’s events respectively. Germany will be one of the main teams to watch out for in both events, as they won both of the titles at the last Championship in Boom, Belgium in 2013.
You can find out more about EuroHockey and the other competitions run under that banner on the European Hockey Federation website.
