Men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup (Sant Cugat, Spain)
Final
AH&BC Amsterdam became the first Dutch side to win the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup as they hit the front early against Harvestehuder THC and never looked back.
They led from the second minute when Boris Burkhardt was located by a beautiful passing move into the D where he slotted home the chance. Mustapha Cassiem made it two when his brother Dayaan pinched possession in the right corner, 2-0 up after seven minutes.
The five-time champions responded with a Gracjan Jarzyński goal from a corner but both Cassiem brothers added another goal to pull into a 4-1 lead, Mustapha producing some sublime trickery to create his goal.
Niklas Reuter reduced arears before the big break after some outrageous Jonas von Gersum skills opened the door. Dayaan Cassiem, though, made sure it was a short reprieve, cleaning up his own rebound after a long run on the left boards.
From there, Amsterdam sat deep as HTHC tried to find holes but few were forthcoming. Xaver Hasun did force one over the line to make it 5-3 going into the final quarter.
Both Burkhardt and Karst Timmer were able to score into a vacant net as the Germans chased goals to get back into the tie as they were able to celebrate a memorable 7-4 final victory.
Bronze match
Junior FC completed their dream debut in the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup with Oriol Serrahima’s last second penalty corner scrambling over the line for a 5-4 win over Royal Léopold.
It crowned a win that adds the perfect celebration of the club’s 100th year of hockey in front of their Sant Cugat home crowd who were once again there in numbers.
The former champions did get off to a great start with Dylan Englebert’s beautiful individual goal in the 10th minute, spinning around on the left baseline and flicking in to make it 1-0.
The lead lasted only 45 seconds as Aleix Bozal replied from a corner and the Spanish side went in front when Pablo Espino whipped in from a baseline pull-back.
Junior celebrate. Picture: Frank Uijlenbroek/World Sport Pics
Nathan Leeuw’s classy backhand shot made it 2-2 at half-time but a brilliant double in the 29th minute had Junior two ahead. First, Oriol Bozal’s driving run laid up Serrahima; then Marc Perellon raced on from a free inside his own half and fired in for 4-2.
Léo fought back, Philippe Simar scoring a corner and the Igor Lockwood made it 4-4 with time running out but Junior summoned a late salvo to win a corner. It was not the cleanest of moves but Serrahima’s shot took the ricochets to make it over the line and spark famous celebrations.
Pool C
Alan Forsyth’s five-goal haul saw Old Georgians assure they will stay in the top division in 2027 as English champions as they saw off TJ Plzeň-Litice 6-3.
He got the only goal of the first half and when he nailed a corner in Q3, Plzeň removed the goalkeeper to open up the game. Forsyth made it 3-0 before the Czechs got two back to briefly threaten the draw they needed but Forsyth struck twice more to guarantee safety.
Their outcome is the best for an English side since East Grinstead finished fourth in 2017.
It meant there was not much on the line except for final rankings for the match between HK Zelina and HC Olten and it started in low-key fashion.
The Croatian side took the lead through Mihael Posavec and further goals from Ivan Šoić and Bohdan Kovalenko extended the advantage to 3-0 going into Q4.
Olten did produce some late fireworks to score four in the last 10 minutes but Zelina countered with three of their own for a 6-4 victory and fifth place overall.
Player of the tournament: Dayaan Cassiem (AH&BC Amsterdam)
Goalkeeper of the tournament: Pablo Luna (Junior FC)
Top goalscorer: Boris Burkhardt (AH&BC Amsterdam) – 13 goals
Final standings
- AH&BC Amsterdam (NED)
- Harvestehuder THC (GER)
- Junior FC (ESP)
- Royal Léopold (BEL)
- HK Zelina (CRO)
- Old Georgians (ENG)
- TJ Plzeň-Litice (CZE)
- 8. HC Olten (SUI)
