The EuroHockey Championships could be played with every home nation across both genders when the 2027 tournament is hosted in London, with a rejigged format and the finals likely to take place at a rugby ground.
Originally, the competition was set to feature as a knock-out tournament, but a group phase will take place after the jeopardy of “every match matters” could have impacted tickets and potential television coverage if a host nation exited early.
Four groups of three will be played across men and women. The first two groups will feature the top six nations split upon European rankings and will determine seedings for the quarter-finals.
The final two pools (with nations ranked seventh onwards) will see only the winner of each group making up the final two spots in the last eight.
Those nations that didn’t make the quarters will enter the classification phase.
Quarter-final losers will then play for ranking positions from fifth to eighth. The remaining sides will play for ninth to 12th positions.
The group phase will be played at Lee Valley while the semi-finals onwards will be staged using ‘Big Stadium Hockey’ at another venue.
England Hockey aimed to use the concept for their failed men’s 2026 World Cup bid, with Northampton Saints’ rugby ground at Franklin Gardens one of the grounds that would be used.
For the Euros, venues such as The Stoop – used for the 2019 Pro League matches – and Northampton could stage the 2027 EuroHockey finals. An announcement has yet to be made.
The 2027 revamp with 12 nations each means the winner will play five matches and is the biggest change to the format in two decades, with an eight-team format deployed for the past 10 editions.
All eight teams per gender from the recently-concluded 2027 event have already qualified for 2027. Wales and Ireland men and Italy and Wales women have also qualified for EuroHockey 2027 as ninth and tenth teams per gender due to their results in EHC II 2025.
The last two remaining spots will follow from the EuroHockey Championship qualifiers next July. Should Scotland men qualify, it would mean all home nations across both genders will compete together.
