EuroHockey U18 Championship III (Sveti Ivan Zelina)
Sveti Ivan Zelina will host both the boys and girls EuroHockey Under-18 Championship III tournaments with each side vying for the one promotion spot on offer.
For the boys, there are entries with the Croatian hosts joined by Bulgaria, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Slovakia while Croatia, Ukraine and Bulgaria contest the girls competition.
** Click here to follow the boys competition
** Click here to follow the girls competition
Boys
Pool A: Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Slovakia
The boys competition will be played in a five-team round-robin format with the action getting under way on Monday, July 14th and running until July 19th.
Most of the sides are well-known to each other having met in some shape or form in 2023.
For Slovakia, they are positive about the challenge ahead with most of the panel now 17 or 18 years old with the national team playing in the Czechia league.
In addition, most now play with the men’s category in their home club with Šimon Belošovič, who was the captain of Slovakia for U21 indoor, a key figure.
Marek Polák is a great goalkeeper with a lot of played tournaments like U16 Hockey 5, U18 and U21.
At the far end of the spectrum, their youngest player is Richard Osvald at 13 years old but, with his hockey skills, he can face a lot older opponents.
Jonathan Sachse will be the head coach – he comes from Germany and coached DHC women’s team in the last EHL season. He joined Slovakian Hockey to share his knowledge and prepare the boys for a promotion to the Championship II.
Richard Garaj (team manager) and Juraj Bogár (assistant coach) being players themselves in AHTC Wien, will also help the team.
Most of the sides are well-known to each other having met in some shape or form in 2023.
Croatia and Bulgaria were both in Alanya in Championship II-B where they finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the former winning 7-1.
For Croatia, the likes of Luka Aleksić, Marin Buljević, Dan Kuhar, Jan Katinić and Andrej Zidanić are all eligible to play for a second time at this age grade.
Likewise, six of the Bulgarian team – including captain Aleksandar Todorov – are available for a second time as they look to continue their return to action; their 2023 appearance was a first for seven years at this age bracket.
Lithuania, Luxembourg and Slovakia, meanwhile, were all in Swansea two years ago, ending in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
For Luxembourg, that was their debut fielding an Under-18 boys team, and one which will live long in the memory as they snagged a strong win over Slovakia and went close against Czechia, Switzerland and Lithuania.
Captain Hugo Puissant and his side will be keen to bring that experience forward to this campaign.
Lithuania, meanwhile, edged out both Luxembourg and Slovakia in Pool C two years ago and will hope they can repeat that feat.
Girls
Pool A: Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine
Three teams will battle for the girls Under-18 Championship III title with each team playing an initial round-robin series of fixtures with the top two going on to play in the final on July 17th.
Croatia are hosting for a second successive edition with Zagreb being the venue for Championship II-A when they finished in fifth place overall.
They have half a dozen players still eligible from two years ago including Helena Buzjak who was part of the Croatian Under-21 indoor side who played in Walcz in January. She also played in the 2021 Championship III.
Ukraine won Championship III in Zagreb in 2021 but did not compete in 2023. As such, theirs is a completely new side on this stage but captain Kateryna Oliinyk has played in three previous EuroHockey events on the club front with Kutaisi and IFK SumDPU.
For Bulgaria, this will be their first appearance since they competed in 2013 in Zagreb and will be just their third time fielding at this level with a best finish of fifth in Championship III in 2005.
