Euro Hockey League

Euro Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024–25 Men's Euro Hockey League
FormerlyEuroHockey Club Champions Cup
SportField hockey
Founded2007; 17 years ago (2007)
First season2007–08
No. of teams20
ConfederationEHF (Europe)
Most recent
champion(s)
Netherlands Pinoké (1st title)
(2023–24)
Most titlesNetherlands Bloemendaal (6 titles)
Related
competitions
Men's EuroHockey Club Trophy I (2nd tier)
Official websiteehlhockey.tv

The Euro Hockey League is an annual men's field hockey cup competition organized by the EHF for the very top field hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 field hockey season when it merged and replaced the men's EuroHockey Club Champions Cup (the champions competition) and the EuroHockey Cup Winners Cup (the Cup Winners' competition). Featuring many of the world's best players, the EHL is now seen as the pinnacle of club hockey in Europe (hockey's equivalent of the UEFA Champions League) with top clubs from across the continent playing what many consider to be the most exciting and dynamic club hockey in the world.

The competition has been won by nine clubs, two of which have won it more than once.[1] Bloemendaal is the most successful club in the tournament's history; having won it six times. In 2019, the Waterloo Ducks became the first Belgian club to win the tournament.[2][3] Dutch clubs have the highest number of victories (9 wins), followed by Germany (5 wins).

Format

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From the 2019–20 season onwards the tournament features 20 clubs from the 11 highest-ranked EHF member countries. Although the competition is called the Euro Hockey League, after round 1 the competition was a knock-out, rather than league format (similar to the UEFA Champions League in football). From the 2019–20 season onwards round one is also a knock-out format.

Qualification

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From the 2019–20 season onwards each year the 20 available league places are allocated between 11 EHF member countries' National Associations, depending on those National Associations' EHF Club Ranking. National Associations ranked 1–3 in the EHL Ranking Table may enter three teams each in the Euro Hockey League, while National Associations ranked 4-6 may enter two teams each, and National Associations ranked 7-11 one team.

National Associations rankings are derived from each country's results in the Euro Hockey League and EuroHockey Club Trophy over the previous 3 years, with the points in the earlier years discounted by 50% (year 2) and 75% (year 1). This ranking of National Associations is based on the performance of all their clubs in the Euro Hockey League and EuroHockey Club Trophy. The total number of points won by clubs from each country is divided by the number of clubs to which the National Association was entitled in that year's competitions.

Each qualifying National Association is required to enter their national champion club but is otherwise free to decide the system of qualification for their own clubs for any remaining places to which they are entitled that year.

To be eligible to play in the Euro Hockey League a country must enter 2 clubs in the EHF club competitions.

Tournament

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For the 2019–20 season the EHL moves to a new format with the removal of the round-robin tournament in round one.[4] Instead, a knock-out format will be used from the start of the tournament.[4] Round one will be replaced by the knockout 16 with four sides advancing to the quarter-finals, or Final 8 as it's called, on Easter.[4] The Final8 will consist of the champions from the top four nations on the EHL rankings table alongside the four sides that qualified from the knockout 16.[4] This means that instead of a total of 24 teams from 12 associations there will be 20 teams from 11 associations.[4]

Sponsorship

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The much-improved presentation and packaging of the Euro Hockey League have attracted a number of high-profile sponsors, most notably Dutch bank ABN-AMRO, who are the presenting sponsor of the tournament. Volvo and Intersport are also named sponsors of the Euro Hockey League, while partnerships have been formed with McGregor, ErmaSport, ATP - The Advanced Travel Partner and Dutch advertising agency Ideas for Brands.

Summaries

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Season Final round host Final Bronze medal match Number of teams
Winner Score Runner-up Third place Score Fourth place
2007–08
Details
Rotterdam, Netherlands Germany
UHC Hamburg
1–0 (a.e.t.) Netherlands
HGC
Netherlands
Rotterdam
2–2 (a.e.t.)
(2–1 p.s.)
Spain
Club Egara
24
2008–09
Details
Netherlands
Bloemendaal
5–4 Germany
UHC Hamburg
Netherlands
Rotterdam
8–1 Belgium
Leuven
24
2009–10
Details
Amstelveen, Netherlands Germany
UHC Hamburg
3–1 Netherlands
Rotterdam
Netherlands
Amsterdam
4–3 (a.e.t.) Spain
Real Club de Polo
24
2010–11
Details
Wassenaar, Netherlands Netherlands
HGC
1–0 Spain
Club de Campo
England
Reading
3–2 Netherlands
Oranje Zwart
24
2011–12
Details
Amstelveen, Netherlands Germany
UHC Hamburg
2–2 (a.e.t.)
(2–1 s.o.)
Netherlands
Amsterdam
Belgium
Dragons
4–3 (a.e.t.) Netherlands
Rotterdam
24
2012–13
Details
Bloemendaal, Netherlands Netherlands
Bloemendaal
2–0 Belgium
Dragons
Netherlands
Amsterdam
5–3 Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
24
2013–14
Details
Eindhoven, Netherlands Germany
Harvestehuder THC
2–2
(3–1 s.o.)
Netherlands
Oranje Zwart
Belgium
Dragons
2–1 Belgium
Racing
24
2014–15
Details
Bloemendaal, Netherlands Netherlands
Oranje Zwart
1–1
(6–5 s.o.)
Germany
UHC Hamburg
Netherlands
Bloemendaal
1–0 Belgium
Daring
24
2015–16
Details
Barcelona, Spain Netherlands
Kampong
2–0 Netherlands
Amsterdam
Germany
Harvestehuder THC
3–2 Spain
Atlètic Terrassa
24
2016–17
Details
Brasschaat, Belgium Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
3–2 Netherlands
Oranje-Rood
Belgium
Dragons
3–1 England
Wimbledon
24
2017–18
Details
Bloemendaal, Netherlands Netherlands
Bloemendaal
8–2 Netherlands
Kampong
Netherlands
Rotterdam
5–4 Belgium
Herakles
24
2018–19
Details
Eindhoven, Netherlands Belgium
Waterloo Ducks
4–0 Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
Germany
Mannheimer HC
3–1 Spain
Real Club de Polo
24
2019–20
Details
Amstelveen, Netherlands Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] 20
2021
Details
Netherlands
Bloemendaal
5–2 Spain
Atlètic Terrassa
Belgium
Léopold
4–2 Germany
Uhlenhorst Mülheim
4
2022
Details
Netherlands
Bloemendaal
4–0 Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
England
Surbiton
2–1 Spain
Club de Campo
10
2022–23
Details
Netherlands
Bloemendaal
1–0 Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
Belgium
Racing
3–0 Spain
Atlètic Terrassa
20
2023–24
Details
Netherlands
Pinoké
1–0 Netherlands
Kampong
England
Old Georgians
3–2 Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln
20
2024–25
Details
's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands 20

Records and statistics

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Performances by club

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RankClubGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Netherlands Bloemendaal6017
2Germany UHC Hamburg3205
3Germany Rot-Weiss Köln1304
4Netherlands Kampong1203
5Netherlands HGC1102
Netherlands Oranje Zwart1102
7Germany Harvestehuder THC1012
8Netherlands Pinoké1001
Belgium Waterloo Ducks1001
10Netherlands Amsterdam0224
11Belgium Dragons0134
Netherlands Rotterdam0134
13Spain Atlètic Terrassa0101
Spain Club de Campo0101
Netherlands Oranje-Rood0101
16Belgium Léopold0011
Germany Mannheimer HC0011
England Old Georgians0011
Belgium Racing0011
England Reading0011
21–21Remaining0011
Totals (21 entries)16161648

Performances by nation

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Netherlands (NED)108624
2 Germany (GER)55212
3 Belgium (BEL)1157
4 Spain (ESP)0202
5 England (ENG)0033
Totals (5 entries)16161648

Lower tournaments

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The Euro Hockey League is the top men's club competition in Europe. Below the Euro Hockey League is the EuroHockey Club Trophy, then below that the EuroHockey Club Challenge 1, the EuroHockey Club Challenge 2, and so on. This structure is designed to give every EHF member nation the opportunity to enter their best clubs into European competition at an appropriate level, and through that exposure to improve the level of their domestic hockey.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Competitions Archive". eurohockey.org. European Hockey Federation. pp. 28–40. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Waterloo Ducks winnen Euro Hockey League na 4-0-winst tegen Köln". www.hln.be (in Dutch). Het Laatste Nieuws. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  3. ^ "Waterloo Ducks in EHL heaven with remarkable 4-0 grand final success in Eindhoven". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. 22 April 2019. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Ehl Men Set for New Knock-out Format in 2019/20 Season". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Uitgestelde Euro Hockey League in Amstelveen alsnog afgelast". nos.nl (in Dutch). 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
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