Austria, Poland, Scotland and France will line-up for the 2025 EuroHockey Championship in Mönchengladbach after successful qualifier wins.
On the men’s side, Austria triumphed on home turf in Vienna as they got the best of Hungary, Portugal and Ukraine to win their qualification tournament. It means they stay in the top tier in Europe having finished seventh in 2023.
Scotland men had suffered a shock defeat to Ukraine, 10 places below them in the world rankings. The Scots failed from their nine penalty corners, with Maksym Onofriiuk scoring the only goal of the game.
Poland, meanwhile, won the other men’s qualifier in Dublin with a fairytale performance. At 28th in the world, they had the fourth best FIH ranking going into the competition but managed to beat all three of the higher ranked nations to advance.
They defeated Italy (ranked 27th) and Ireland (9th) via shoot-outs before outdoing Wales (17th) 2-1 in the final, coming from a goal behind. It adds to Poland’s memorable year which includes EuroHockey Indoor silver and EuroHockey 5s Championship gold.
Ireland International and record goal scorer Shane O’Donoghue, with 242 caps and 124 goals, announced before the game that he was retiring with effect from the final hooter in this game.
On the women’s side, Scotland retained their place at the top level as they won a hard-fought qualifier at Glasgow Green, defeating Austria 1-0 and Wales 2-1 in the final. It means they will play in the EuroHockey Championship for a third successive edition.
In Douai, France delighted their home support as they secured a place at the elite level for the first time since 2005. Their route to victory was via a big win over debutantes Luxembourg, Ukraine (3-2) and then 2-0 against Poland in the final.
The tournaments also saw tickets to the 2025 EuroHockey Championship II and III competitions. Each side who finished between second and fifth will now qualify for the second tier events next year while the teams ranked between sixth and eighth contest the third tier.
