Euro Hockey League – HC Oranje-Rood, Eindhoven, April 2019
ABN AMRO has shown their passion for the Euro Hockey League by extending their role as presenting partner of the EHL for another three seasons.
It continues ABN AMRO’s long-standing sponsorship of the event, becoming synonymous with the event known for elite hockey and party atmosphere.
ABN AMRO has been with EHL since the very beginning in 2007 and will continue that exciting adventure into 2022. The confirmation of the new agreement came on Saturday morning in the middle of another thrilling KO16/FINAL4 event with thousands of fans witnessing Waterloo Ducks becoming the first ever Belgian club to lift the Alain Danet Trophy.
ABN AMRO’s contribution gives an extra boost to EHL Women which will be played for the first time at Easter 2020, raising the game for club hockey in Europe.
ABN AMRO’s Marco Moers – pictured above with EHL chairman Hans-Erik Tuijt – said of the decision to renew the partnership: “We love that we are continuing our partnership with the EHL for three more years because this is the premier tournament in Europe for club teams.
“We have something special. The EHL brings to life that passion for all the fans, kids, players and teams and we are delighted to have our ABN AMRO name central to it. We love this game and this tournament and we love this sponsorship.”
EHL chairman Hans-Erik Tuijt added: “We are delighted to welcome a new phase in the growth of the EHL in partnership with ABN AMRO who continue to show their passion for top club hockey.
“Our drive towards EHL Women has always been on the agenda so that we could present our equally amazing women’s players with the same razzmatazz as EHL Men.
“This new chapter has been made possible by our women athletes consistently delivering hockey that is worthy of a bigger platform and ABN AMRO who understand that their support is vital to taking this fantastic step for hockey in Europe.”
For next season, eight women’s teams will battle it out at FINAL8 alongside the EHL Men’s FINAL8 team to become EHL Champions and lift the coveted EHL Alain Danet Trophy.
The competition will be fully produced for television, have a full video referral system in place and equal prize money with EHL Men.
An EHL U14 Girls competition will also be run in tandem with an EHL U14 Boys tournament. All four tournaments will form part of one big EHL weekend at one venue every Easter.
EHL Men, meanwhile, will move to a new format for the 2019/20 season. The KO16 will now take place in October with the clubs ranked 5 to 20 – via the EHL Ranking Table – playing a straight knock-out competition.
This will replace ROUND1 and will see 16 clubs play fully produced for television fixtures over three days with four sides going forward to the FINAL8.
For the 2019/20 season, it means a change in the qualification process with 11 countries set to be represented based on the EHL ranking table.