28th August 2022, Brussels Belgium: Scotland and England’s women and the men’s teams from Wales, France, and Austria will all contest next summer’s EuroHockey Championships in Monchengladbach following this week’s qualifiers.
The lineup for EuroHockey Championship 2023
Qualification Route
And four second-quarter goals against Switzerland put them on course for a 4-2 win over Switzerland for three wins from three. France was second and Austria third, meaning they will play in the EuroHockey Championship II in 2023.
Meanwhile, in Durham in Qualifier A, Commonwealth Games winners England were the stand-out side, seeing off Slovakia and Croatia either side of an all-important 3-0 win over Wales.
The Welsh side held them at bay until Grace Balsdon scored a penalty stroke and the game was made safe with second-half goals from Tess Howard and Hannah Martin.
Slovakia will play in the second tier for the first time – along with Wales – as they edged out Croatia to third place in the group on goal difference.
In the men’s competitions, starting in Calais for Qualifier B, the crucial game saw France beat Ireland 4-1 on Thursday evening with Etienne Tynevez scoring both of the goals in the second half.
Both sides had proven too strong for Lithuania and Turkey with heavy scorelines in each game. It meant Fred Soyez’s side finished first and go to the top tier in 2023 with Ireland and Turkey – thanks to a 3-1 win against Lithuania – will play in the second tier.
On the home ground at Vienna’s Qualifier C, Austria won all three of their fixtures on home turf in a high-scoring tournament. They started with a 5-3 success against Ukraine and followed with a 3-0 victory over Italy.
It left them on the brink of first place which they assured with a 7-0 win over Croatia. Italy ended up second, winning a 4-3 thriller against Ukraine with two goals in the final 30 seconds; both sides will play in EuroHockey Championship II next summer.
In Pool D in Glasgow, the crucial game was between Scotland and Wales. Both sides were too strong for Switzerland and Gibraltar in their other games making their Thursday fixture the one that decided the destination of the title.
It was settled by a single goal from corner expert Gareth Furlong scoring in the 27th minute for Wales to land a 1-0 win. They will play in the top division for a third successive EuroHockey Championships with Scotland and Switzerland contesting Championships II in 2023.
Last week’s qualifiers
Last week, Spain’s men won Qualifier A in Ourense as they proved too strong for the second-placed Czech Republic and third finishers Portugal while Poland finished in fourth place.
In women’s Qualifier B, Ireland beat Poland, the Czech Republic, and Turkey to top their table while, in Vilnius for Qualifier C, Italy edged out Ukraine in their three-team competition with Lithuania finishing in third place.
Men
EuroHockey Championship qualifiers: Spain, France, Wales, Austria
EuroHockey Championships II qualifiers: Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Turkey, Portugal
EuroHockey Championships III: Poland, Gibraltar, Croatia, Lithuania
Women
EuroHockey Championship qualifiers: England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy
EuroHockey Championship II qualifiers: Czech Republic, Wales, France, Poland, Ukraine Austria, Lithuania, Slovakia
EuroHockey Championship III: Turkey, Switzerland, Croatia
You can rewatch the games on eurohockeytv.org
