Maxime Bergez says the Indoor Red Lions are pursuing a dual goal of a top four and a team rebuild as they look forward to the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship in Heidelberg in January.
“We’ve rebuilt a team with many young players,” said the head coach on announcement of his panel.
“Our ambitions remain high, and we’re playing for a place in the semi-finals, while also developing these new players and discovering where their potential can take us.”
The side features six of the side who finished fourth at last year’s World Cup in Poreč and five of the team who won bronze in Leuven in 2024. The staff have also had adjust to Dylan Englebert’s injury recently.
“We were faced with some bad news, but also with some very pleasant surprises, such as the first selections of several players and the return of interesting profiles.”
Tom Degroote is one of those key returnees and is one of a cohort from Royal Léopold’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup winning side from earlier in 2025.
Philippe Simar is chief among them. The goalscoring machine’s stats are off the charts, scoring 77 times in 29 international matches, including 14 hat tricks (or more) and scoring seven times on two separate occasions.
Indeed, he has only not scored in three of those matches, one of which only lasted 90 seconds in 2024 in Leuven due to injury.
Further back, Gaëtan Dykmans will be crucial around the back while they have excellent goalkeeping options – Romain Henet missed 2024 through injury but is back; Matteo Gryspeerdt won goalkeeper of the tournament at that event.
Brian Van Bogaert and Thomas Joye were reserves for the World Cup last year and elevate to the central panel with the latter currently uncapped.
Sam Poncelet is another set to debut in the coming weeks, following his brother Nicolas to be capped on this stage. Tom Stassin is a third yet to line out internationally named in the squad.
Despite a very compact programme, the group is evolving in the right direction with a view to the final preparatory block.
“The preparation has been intense, but it got us to where we need to be going into the final straight,” Bergez adds.
“With new players, it’s only natural that we need to recreate balance and connections on the court. That will be our main focus over the next two weeks, so we can play a game that fits the identity of the Indoor Red Lions.”
During the holiday season, the Red Lions will continue their preparations with four additional training sessions, after which they will travel to Vienna for a preparatory tournament starting January 1st.
“There we’ll compete against Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Austria, all of whom are participating in the European Championship. We’ll also play against Poland on the European Championship pitch.”
Belgium (ranking 3) will compete in Group B, together with Germany (2), Ireland (23), Spain (19) and Switzerland (13).
While some countries are well known, other opponents create more uncertainty.
“Today, we no longer fear any nation. Our evolution over the past few years has made us competitive against the best countries in the world, to which we now belong. The biggest challenge will be to deal well with the unknowns of some of the teams we will discover.”
Belgium men: Matteo Gryspeerdt, Dorian Thiéry, Romain Henet, Mallory Magnant, Brian Van Bogaert, Philippe Simar, Nicolas Bogaerts, Tom Degroote, Sam Poncelet, Tom Stassin, Thomas Joye, Gaëtan Dykmans,
Reserves: Thibault Meire, Feliz Lamalle
Tickets for the group match days on Thursday, January 8th, and Friday, January 9th, are available at https://www.schauinsland-eurohockey2026.com/tickets.
Every match from the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship will be streamed live on www.eurohockeytv.org with an event pass for €11.99.
