Men’s Pool A features a wealth of medalists on the highest level with reigning Olympic champions Belgium, Indoor World Cup winners Austria, 2019 Euro silver medalists and 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medal winners England in the mix. Here’s a look at their line-ups for the EuroHockey Championship in Mönchengladbach

Men’s Pool A  

Austria

• World ranking: 18th
• EuroHockey Championship appearances: 5
• Best finish: 7th (2009, 2017)

Overview: Austria are the one side not to have played in the 2021 edition of the competition, earning their place via the qualifiers route with victory in Vienna last summer. They are lowest ranked side but do have a wealth of know-how in the panel with many indoor World Cup winners in the line-up.

Goal machine Michael Körper (pictured above) has over 200 international goals between indoor and outdoor fixtures and is their big threat. He added three more to that total at the end of July in a series win over Chile. Körper is one of six Hamburg-based players in the line-up with Xaver Hasun his captain at club and Austria level.

Benjamin Stanzl returned to the international scene in January following a three-year break. Along with Körper, Oliver Binder, Leon Thörnblom, Hasun, goalkeeper Mateusz Szymczyk, Alexander Bele and Fabian Unterkircher, they all played in the 2017 Euros when the side finished in seventh place. 

On the flip side, Moritz Zotter and Jakob Kastner are the freshest faces while Mateusz Nyckowiak and Fülöp Losonci were members of the Under-21 Euro indoor winning side in Nymburk.

#	Name	Caps	Goals	Club
3	Oliver Binder	63	9	Hamburger Polo Club (GER)
4	Fülöp Losonci	22	7	Harvestehuder THC (GER)
5	Peter Kaltenböck	25	1	Post SV
8	Alexander Bele	104	21	SV Arminen
9	Michael Körper	168	92	Harvestehuder THC (GER)
11	Nikolas Wellan	27	6	HC Wien
12	Josef Winkler	9	1	HC Wien
13	Benjamin Stanzl	160	18	Post SV
19	Moritz Zotter	3	0	HC Wien
20	Franz Lindengrun	47	8	HC Wien
21	Benjamin Kölbl	26	1	Hamburger Polo Club (GER)
23	Fabian Unterkircher	54	7	Den Bosch (NL)
24	Leon Thörnblom	88	12	Hamburger Polo Club (GER)
27	Xaver Hasun	129	4	Harvestehuder THC (GER)
29	Oliver Kern	40	0	AHTC
30	Mateusz Nyckowiak	8	0	Post SV
32	Mateusz Szymczyk	108	0	SV Arminen
33	Jakob Kastner	2	0	Post SV

 Belgium  

• World ranking: 2nd 
• EuroHockey Championship appearances: 18
• Best finish: Winners (2019) 

Overview: National coach Michel van den Heuvel has given a trio of young stars their opening to make their mark in Mönchengladbach: Arno Van Dessel in midfield and Nelson Onana and William Ghislain in attack. They have their chance while long-term regulars Tom Boon, Sebastien Dockier and Tanguy Cosyns will not be there this time around.

 Van den Heuvel explains: “We saw during the Pro League that the enthusiasm, intensity and athletic ability of our young players had a huge positive influence on the way we play. We’re also noticing a shift in the game, where fast players who have the ability to keep running for an entire match are now the norm. Nelson, Arno and William can bring that to our team.”

There is still an abundance of star quality with John-John Dohmen set to break the world caps record while Vincent Vanasch and Loic Van Doren jostling for the goalkeeper duties. Arther van Doren, Felix Denayer, Florent van Aubel, Gauthier Boccard and Loïck Luypaert have over 200 caps. Emmanuel Stockbroekx is back with the Red Lions after a head injury kept him out since 2022.

#	Name	Caps	Goals	Club
2	Loic Van Doren	50	0	KHC Dragons
4	Arthur Van Doren	227	10	HC Bloemendaal (NL)
7	John-John Dohmen	453	34	Orée
8	Florent van Aubel	279	57	Pinoké (NL)
10	Cédric Charlier	365	65	Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles
12	Gauthier Boccard	276	13	Royal Léopold
13	Nicolas De Kerpel	107	26	Herakles
15	Emmanuel Stockbroekx	188	9	Orée
16	Alexander Hendrickx	170	95	Pinoké (NL)
19	Felix Denayer	375	21	KHC Dragons
20	William Ghislain	24	2	Waterloo Ducks
21	Vincent Vanasch	269	0	Orée
23	Arthur De Sloover	142	4	Oranje-Rood (NL)
24	Antoine Kina	105	7	Gantoise
25	Loïck Luypaert	289	52	Braxgata
26	Victor Wegnez	147	15	Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles
30	Nelson Onana	15	4	Braxgata
31	Arno Van Dessel	18	1	Herakles

Team Manager	Eric Pirenne
Stand-In Manager	Mick Beunen
Head Coach	Michel van den Heuvel
Assistant Coach	Xavier Reckinger
Assistant Coach	Shane McLeod
Assistant Coach	Steve Bayer
Medical Doctor	Katja van Oostveldt
Physiotherapist	Julien Rysman
Physiotherapist	Lars Poppe
Video Technician	Emily Calderon

Official press release: https://hockey.be/fr/red-lions-trois-jeunes-talents-dans-la-selection-pour-le-championnat-deurope-2023/

England  

• World ranking: 3rd  
• EuroHockey Championship appearances: 19
• Best finish: Winners (2009) 

Overview: England are a side on the up since Paul Revington took on the head coach role, winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games while they led the FIH Pro League until just a couple of weeks before the end of the competition. They have risen from sixth to third in the world rankings

Revington, said: “I’m pleased to announce such a strong England team for the EuroHockey Championships. We’ve had some really promising performances over the last 12 months and I want to see the team continue that form and momentum in Germany.

“We will face top quality opposition again throughout the event, and I know this team will be excited to deal with each challenge they encounter throughout the tournament.”

A key feature is Nick Bandurak who has scored 37 times across 44 England and Great Britain matches.  He adds to the shooting prowess of Sam Ward who has 107 goals on his ledger. Conor Williamson is the bolter in the panel with the new Surbiton signing playing in his debut tournament.

#	Name	Caps	Goals	Club
2	Nicholas Park	22 (ENG 16, GBR 6)	1	Surbiton
3	Jack Waller	92 (ENG 38, GBR 54)	4 GBR	Wimbledon
5	David Ames	188 (ENG 59, GBR 66, IRL 63)	3 ENG / 1 GBR	Holcombe
7	Zachary Wallace	96 (ENG 43, GBR 53)	9 ENG / 5 GBR	HC Bloemendaal (NL)
13	Sam Ward	185 (ENG 92, GBR 93)	64 ENG / 43 GBR	Old Georgians
14	James Albery	52 (ENG 35, GBR 17)	1	Old Georgians
15	Phillip Roper	194 (ENG 114, GBR 80)	28 ENG / 24 GBR	Holcombe
16	James Mazarelo	19 (ENG 6, GBR 13)	0	Surbiton
18	Brendan Creed	125 (ENG 68, GBR 57)	1 GBR	Surbiton
19	David Goodfield	96 (ENG 72, GBR 24)	11 ENG / 4 GBR	Surbiton
20	Oliver Payne	53 (ENG 30, GBR 23)	0	Holcombe
23	Nicholas Bandurak	44 (ENG 28, GBR 16)	25 ENG / 12 GBR	Holcombe
24	James Oates	22 (ENG 13, GBR 9)	1 ENG / 1 GBR	Hampstead & Westminster
26	James Gall	112 (ENG 63, GBR 49)	4 ENG / 1 GBR	Surbiton
29	Thomas Sorsby	83 (ENG 37, GBR 46)	1 GBR	Den Bosch (NL)
30	Conor Williamson	2	0	Surbiton
31	Will Calnan	80 (ENG 44, GBR 36)	7 ENG / 3 GBR	Southgate
33	Timothy Nurse	21 (ENG 10, GBR 11)	2 GBR	Surbiton

Team Manager	Paul Gannon
Head Coach	Paul Revington
Assistant Coach	Zak Jones
Assistant Coach	Mark Hickman
Assistant Coach	Kwandwane Browne
Physiotherapist	Matt Davies
Physical Trainer	Murray Barratt
Psychologist	Katie Mobed
Video Technician	Amber Luzar
Video Technician	Danny Crowther

Spain  

• World ranking: 7th 
• EuroHockey Championship appearances: 19 
• Best finish: Winners – 2 times (1974, 2005) 

Overview: The two-time champions are hoping to hit the ground running after a strong preparation phase in which they won the centenary tournament in Barcelona, beating India and drawing with the Netherlands before winning the final against England in a shoot-out.

They followed up with two heavy wins over Austria in uncapped games and they are a side that looks to be maturing well. They have stepped up in the last two years after Quico Cortes, Miguel Delas, Marc Salles, Pau Quemada, David Alegre, Xavi Lleonart, Josep Romeu and Vincent Ruiz – who all played in 2021 – stepped away after earning almost 2,000 caps between them.

Marc Miralles captains the side ahead of a new move to HC Bloemendaal in the Netherlands while they have Joaquin Menini – an Olympic champion with Argentina before switching to Spain – in the panel to bring big game know-how.

#	Name	Caps	Goals	Club
2	Alejandro Alonso	74	3	RS Tenis
6	Xavier Gispert	55	7	Club Egara
7	Enrique Gonzalez	184	22	Club de Campo
8	Marc Recasens	69	8	Real Club de Polo
9	Alvaro Iglesias	211	50	Club de Campo
10	José Basterra	52	15	Club de Campo
12	Marc Reyne	44	16	Real Club de Polo
14	Marc Miralles	93	24	HC Bloemendaal (NL)
15	Jordi Bonastre	50	4	Atlètic Terrassa
17	Pepe Cunill	35	1	Atlètic Terrassa
18	Joaquin Menini	153 (ARG 110, ESP 43)	11 ESP /29 ARG	HC Rotterdam (NL)
20	Pau Cunill	36	13	Atlètic Terrassa
24	Ignacio Rodriguez	98	4	Club de Campo
29	Gerard Clapes	47	5	Oranje Rood
42	Luis Calzado	18	0	Real Club de Polo
90	Borja Lacalle	35	5	Club de Campo
99	Rafael Vilallonga	27	2	Club de Campo

Team Manager	Cesar Hernandez
Head Coach	Max Caldas
Assistant Coach	Aleix Sagrera
Assistant Coach	Xavier Ribas
Assistant Coach	Borja Movellan
Assistant Coach	Alejandro Iglesias
Assistant Coach	Bernar Herrera
Assistant Coach	Juan Escarre
Medical Doctor	Rafael Gonzalez
Physiotherapist	XAVI BOSCH
Physiotherapist	Jordi Borras
Physical Trainer	Jordi Lazaro
Psychologist	Jesus Portillo
Video Technician	Diego Gavilan
Video Technician	Andrew Wilson

Official press release: https://www.rfeh.es/lista-la-convocatoria-de-la-absoluta-masculina-para-el-eurohockey-2023/