The 78th German women’s title will be determined this weekend at Bonn THV with the Final Four battling it out for the trophy. The reigning champions Mannheimer HC start on Saturday at 11.45 am (CET) with their semi-final game against Rot-Weiss Köln. Both teams also made it to the Final Four last year. Mannheim eliminated UHC Hamburg 2-0 on the way to its first field DM title, and Cologne’s final dreams were ended by a 1-3 defeat by Der Club an der Alster. With their youthful panel, Rot-Weiss made serene passage to this stage in the play-off series against Großflottbeker THGC. Nevertheless, def ..read more

One of the longest continuous run in the men’s Euro Hockey League will come to an end next season as Rot-Weiss Köln missed out on a place in the German final four. They have played in the past 12 editions of the competition, level with Poland’s WKS Grunwald Poznan and one behind Dinamo Kazan’s 13-year run. Rot-Weiss were unable to turn the tide against Crefelder HTC, ending their three-year reign as national champions as they lost the first two of their best-of-three quarter-final. In Saturday’s game two, Rot-Weiss made a dream start as Tom Grambusch’s penalty corner and a Michel Struthoff goa ..read more

Royal Léopold’s men have made a couple of eye-catching signings with Nelson Onana and Jose Basterra adding even more firepower to their front lines. They join the Belgian side who won the Ion Hockey League’s men’s regular season but came unstuck in the playoff semi-finals at the hands of eventual champions Gantoise. Onana switches to the club after six seasons at Braxgata during which time he has established himself in the Red Lions side.  He has signed a three-year contract Basterra, meanwhile, is the 27-year-old star man  from Club de Campo, frequently topping their goalscoring cha ..read more

Barry Middleton has been confirmed as the new head coach of Surbiton’s men following an 11-year spell at Holcombe, taking on the reins after Mark Pearn stepped down recently. The EuroHockey Hall of Famer has a glittering CV as a player and, recently, as a player-coach, helping Holcombe finish as runners-up in the England in 2023. He also has extensive experience working with young, up-and-coming players in his role as GB Elite Development Programme Assistant Coach, while his own achievements as a player are well documented, having made 432 international appearances, competed at four Olympics a ..read more

Lille MHC won the French men’s national title and, with it, a spot at next season’s EHL KO16 as they won a dramatic shoot-out over CAM92. Both won their semi-finals 2-1 on Saturday with Lille edging out Racing Club de France after Montrouge beat Saint Germain. In the decider, the hosts went in front when Brieuc Delemazure whipped in a perfect ball into the circle for Arthur Golliot to redirect into the net for a fifth minute lead. CAM92 were back level, though, at half-time when Louis Poupée dragged in his 27th goal of the season from a penalty corner for 1-1. And that is how it remained throu ..read more

Den Bosch got the result they needed with the minimum of fuss to ensure they will return to EHL Women next season thanks to an 8-0 win over Tilburg. Frédérique Matla secured the Hoofdklasse’s top scorer title into the bargain as she fired home four set piece goals as they won the Brabant derby with plenty to spare. It assure them top spot no matter what the result for SCHC – as it happened, the Bilthoven side was not able to get the win to keep their challenge alive as they drew with Kampong 1-1. Elsewhere, hockey legend Eva Drummond was given a big send-off to her incredible professional care ..read more

Gantoise’s women are Belgian champions for the fourth successive year as they won their final double-header over the weekend 5-3 on aggregate against Braxgata. Ambre Ballenghien snapped up the opening goal of the weekend when Emilie Sinia’s shot was only half stopped, swooping low to knock the ball home. Stephanie Vanden Borre levelled from a deflected corner but the first tie was settled from the penalty spot by Astrid Bonami. Elena Sotgiu denied a second stroke in the third quarter in a busy second half but they did have their 3-1 lead after game one from a corner deflection. That was augmen ..read more

Gantoise’s magnificent seven on Saturday meant they won the Belgian men’s national title at a canter, retaining the title in some style in Antwerp. They were 4-0 up in the first leg with just 27 minutes gone with Romain Duvekot, Emile Esquelin (two) and François Goyet all cashing in. They eventually raced away to a 7-1 victory with Timothée Clément filling his boots with a hat trick. With a huge aggregate lead going into game two on Sunday, there was little jeopardy. Waterloo did show up well with Blaise Rogeau giving them the lead in Q2 only for Esquelin to equalise, continuing his dream week ..read more

HC Bloemendaal won their EHL Men’s tickey with a hard-fought win over Klein Zwitserland at ’t Kopje, staying out of range of Oranje-Rood. It took until the second half before the deadlock was broken with Dennis Warmerdam scoring a nice goal from a pull-back. Casper van der Veen then got another with a smart finish from mid-circle, getting the ball free before shooting home for a 2-0 win. Oranje-Rood stay in second place with a 3-2 win over third placed Kampong with Rotterdam completing the top four for the playoffs with a 5-3 win over Schaerweijde. The first legs of the semi-finals – Rotterdam ..read more

SV Arminen’s men have assured themselves a spot at next season’s Euro Hockey League thanks to a 6-3 win over HDI WAC, guaranteeing them first place in the Austrian league. With Austria moving above France in the EHL Ranking List it means the country have two places at next October’s EHL Men’s KO16 with the other spot going to the overall championship winner. To get over the line with a week to spare in the league, Maximilian Kelner and Patrick Schmidt made it 2-0 in the first quarter before Alexander Bele added another couple in Q2 for a 4-1 lead. Then, WAC goalkeeper Max Stvarnik sustained an ..read more