20th September 2017: The EHF Competitions Committee is delighted to announce the following venues for the 2018 festival of Club hockey.
It is often said that club hockey is at the core of European hockey, and when you take time to look back at the stats, they speak for themselves!
In 1969 – The EHF Club Cup for men started, albeit as an unofficial ‘friendly’ event but it is fantastic to see that clubs like Rot Weiss Köln, Club Egara and Kampong, 3 of the founding participants are still vibrant and successful 49 years on.
In 1974 the EHF organised, significantly for both women and men, our official European Club Cups, 12 men’s clubs and 8 women’s clubs from all around Europe. Over those 44 years the highs and lows of our clubs have been recorded with memorable wins and losses, but ultimately club hockey in Europe has gone from strength to strength and we are very proud that with the EuroHockey Club Championship, EHL and EHCC we have a total of 108 teams from clubs all over Europe participating in the 2017/18 season!
This does not happen by accident, time, energy and effort from countless club volunteers has gone into the past 49 years.
This is possibly demonstrated perfectly by our EuroHockey Club Trophy Men’s host, WAC, who’s spokesman Robert Buchta spoke about their “delight at being awarded the hosting 2018 EuroHockey Club Trophy, Men.” WAC have finally laid their own pitch in the Prater Park in Vienna, and he told us about the extraordinary crowd funding that the club undertook ” After centuries without our own hockey-pitch, WAC-Vienna has laid our pitch with big private crowd-funding only between its members.” Explaining that “Coming home lights a big fire in the WAC hockey community and the flame blazes even bigger with entering the stage of international hockey by hosting next years EuroHockey Club Trophy Men!” Peter finished our short interview with a very warm welcome to the participating clubs “We are looking very much forward welcoming all participating teams, their fans and the officials. We will do everything to make the tournament a well organised, enjoyable and unforgettable event here at WAC in Vienna.”
New host Monkstown’s President, Trevor Waktins was equally delighted on hearing that they have been awarded the hosting of the Women’s Trophy “This will be a great opportunity for our young players, supporters and the general hockey public to be involved in and watch top class European club hockey.” Monkstown was successful in its bid for this tournament that will see champion club teams from England, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Czech Republic, Spain and France play in Dublin in May 2018. The tournament will be held under the EHF’s longtime partner Musco Lighting’s floodlights, which the club installed along with their new pitch last year. Trevor added “We look forward to welcoming the European Hockey Federation and the participating teams to the Merrion Fleet Arena next May.”
The EuroHockey Club Trophy and Challenge (Men) & Club Champions Cup, Trophy and Challenge (Women) tournaments in 2018 will take place as follows (Hosts are highlighted in bold):
MEN
EuroHockey Club Trophy, Men – Vienna (AUT) – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | KS AZS AWF Poznan (POL) | 2 | HC Bra (ITA) | |
| 4 | Grange HC (SCO) | 3 | HC Rottweiss Wettingen (SUI) | |
| 5 | HC Minsk (BLR) | 6 | WAC (AUT) | |
| 8 | SC Stroitel Brest (BLR) | 7 | HC OKS-SHVSM Vinnitsa (UKR) | |
EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Men – Geneva (SUI) – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | ASD SH Paolo Bonomi (ITA) | 2 | SK Slavia Prague (CZE) | |
| 4 | AD Lousada (POR) | 3 | TJ Plzen Litice (CZE) | |
| 5 | HAHK Mladost (CRO) | 6 | Slagelse Hockeyklub (DEN) | |
| 8 | Clube de Futebol Uniao de Lamas (POR) | 7 | Servette HC Geneva (SUI) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge II, Men – To be confirmed – 17-20 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Whitchurch HC (WAL) | 2 | FHC Akademik Plus Sofia (BUL) | |
| 4 | Bolu Belediyesi SK (TUR) | 3 | Grammarians HC (GIB) | |
| 5 | HC Zelina (CRO) | 6 | KPH Rača (SVK) | |
| 8 | Asteras Agion Anargiron HC (GRE) | 7 | HK Lipovci (SLO) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge III, Men – To be confirmed – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Copenhagen HC (DEN) | 2 | Nacka LHK (SWE) | |
| 4 | Baltic Champs (LTU) | 3 | Kringsjå Sportsklubb (NOR) | |
| 5 | HC Cherkassy Region (UKR) | 6 | Sliema Hotsticks HC (MLT) | |
| 8 | Gaziantep Polisgücü SK (TUR) | 7 | Zuvedra Tauras (LTU) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge IV, Men – To be confirmed – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Floriana Young Stars HC (MLT) | 2 | Soroksári – Olcote HC (HUN) | |
| 4 | HC Kilppari (FIN) | 3 | FHC Slavia 1921 (BUL) | |
| 5 | HK Moravske Toplice (SLO) | 6 | Mortensrud-Aker SK (NOR) | |
| 8 | Építők HC (HUN) | 7 | ABC-Team (FIN) |
WOMEN
The venue and participants in our premier Women’s event the EuroHockey Club Cup, which will take place on 18-21 May 2018 will be announced following the EHF Executive Board meeting at the end of September! We have some very exciting news on this event.
EuroHockey Club Trophy, Women – Dublin (IRL) – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Holcombe HC (ENG) | 2 | CSP Krylatskoye (RUS) | |
| 4 | GHC Ritm Grodno (BLR) | 3 | Junior FC (ESP) | |
| 5 | MSC Sumchanka (UKR) | 6 | Monkstown HC (IRL) | |
| 8 | SK Slavia Prague (CZE) | 7 | Lille MHC (FRA) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Women – Edinburgh (SCO) – 18-21 May 2018
The EHF is very happy that our partner Polytan will feature heavily at the Challenge I with the teams competing on the newly laid file in Edinburgh University.
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Edinburgh University HC (SCO) | 2 | CUS Pisa (ITA) | |
| 4 | Swansea City (WAL) | 3 | Gintra Strekte Uni HC (LTU) | |
| 5 | HC Metrostroy (RUS) | 6 | Braxgata HC (BEL) | |
| 8 | HC Rottweiss Wettingen (SUI) | 7 | Clydesdale Western HC (SCO) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge II, Women – Ghent (BEL) – 18-21 May 2018
Gantoise has also laid a new Polytan pitch, so a second of our events will take place on our partner’s field.
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Gantoise HC (BEL) | 2 | SV Arminen (AUT) | |
| 4 | Black Boys HC Geneve (SUI) | 3 | Douai HC (FRA) | |
| 5 | HC 1972 Rakovník (CZE) | 6 | AZS Politechnika Poznanska (POL) | |
| 8 | SG Amsicora ASD (ITA) | 7 | Zuvedra Tauras (LTU) |
EuroHockey Club Challenge III, Women – Vienna (AUT) – 18-21 May 2018
| Pool A | Pool B | |||
| 1 | Navax AHTC Wien (AUT) | 2 | Cardiff University Ladies HC (WAL) | |
| 4 | HAHK Mladost (CRO) | 3 | Copenhagen HC (DEN) | |
| 5 | Nacka LHK (SWE) | 6 | Grupo Desportivo do Viso (POR) | |
| 8 | Gaziantep Polisgücü SK (TUR) | 7 | HC Zelina (CRO) |
Reserve team: Kolos Boryspol (UKR)
Important notices for teams:
- All teams should take EHF regulation B3d into account: “All participating teams must be present with their full squad, subject to emergencies, in their hotel by, at the latest, 19.00hrs on the evening before the first match of the tournament. Failure to arrive on time may result in a team being disqualified from the tournament.”
- All match schedules will be announced mid November.
- The withdrawal date for all tournaments in this competition is 31 October 2017. Any club withdrawing after that date may be subject to a fine or other disciplinary action by EHF. See current EHF Club Regulations for further details.
For more information contact our Competitions Manager at competitions@eurohockey.org
Pictured is the new WAC pitch in Vienna