Glasgow – EuroHockey Championship Qualifier A (Women)
Glasgow Green awaits for the women’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifier A competition with six teams battling it out for the ticket to Mönchengladbach in 2025.
All seven games will be live-streamed free of charge on www.eurohockeytv.org for all registered users of the website.
There are two quarter-final battles with Wales and Croatia and Austria up against Lithuania on Thursday. Friday will see the losers from those two games meet, an important fixture with the winner from that contest qualifying for the second tier in Europe in 2025.
Hosts Scotland and Czechia have a bye through to Saturday’s semi-finals where they face the winner of Thursday’s quarters with each team hoping for a spot in Sunday’s final and a chance to win the tournament, bringing with it a place at next year’s top tier of European championship hockey.
| Match # | Date/Time | Details | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 22 Aug 2024 16:15 | Wales v Croatia (QF2 (M1)) | – |
| 02 | 22 Aug 2024 18:30 | Austria v Lithuania (QF3 (M2)) | – |
| 03 | 23 Aug 2024 18:30 | Loser M1 v Loser M2 (5th/6th Place) | – |
| 04 | 24 Aug 2024 12:00 | Czechia v Winner M1 (SF1) | – |
| 05 | 24 Aug 2024 14:15 | Scotland v Winner M2 (SF2) | – |
| 06 | 25 Aug 2024 11:00 | Loser SF2 v Loser SF1 (3rd/4th Place) | – |
| 07 | 25 Aug 2024 13:15 | Winner SF2 v Winner SF1 (Final) | – |
Team-by-team previews
Scotland (World number 16)
Scotland – the highest ranked side in Glasgow – feature a very strong squad including Sarah Robertson; Amy Costello; Charlotte Watson; and Jess Buchanan, fresh from representing GB Women at the Olympics in Paris.
Double Olympian, and Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo, Robertson, will captain the squad as they take to the pitch on home soil.
Preparations have gone well. The team recently rose in the world rankings after a capped series victory over Canada.
It is a panel packed with interesting personal stories. Katie Birch has an identical twin Rebecca who plays for Scotland too; Katie is slightly older by minutes. A teacher of geography at Surbiton High School, she qualifies for Scotland by virtue of her Scottish grandmother. Katie previously played in America at Iowa where she was a three-time All-American in the NCAA.
Buchanan has eleven siblings and comes from a huge family; Amy Costello did voice overs for CBeebies as a youngster. Emily Dark is in the RAF Reserves.
Jen Eadie has Type-1 diabetes, has a twin sister, Ali Eadie, who played underage hockey for Scotland; she can play the old Scottish drum, and her sister Lorna is a technical official for Scottish Hockey.
Sarah Jamieson works as a lawyer and was recently promoted to senior solicitor; she was also voted Scottish Hockey Player of the Year in February.
Heather McEwan is South African born, her dad is from Oban in Scotland. She won her first Scotland cap against South Africa, at Birmingham 2022.
Head Coach Chris Duncan said, “We have been really pleased with the growth of the whole group over the year. The performance development in different match play settings, and within training, has been refreshing to see. Coupled with this, to see our under 21’s succeed with a gold medal recently in Türkiye has energised everybody within the group.
“The knockout format of this tournament is a challenging one, so we need to find our rhythm and commit to our style of play from minute one of our first game. Selection has been tough, because we have so many players who have contributed so well over the past months, and put their hand up to be selected. Ultimately, though, we feel we have a really strong squad who are capable of showing what ‘The Scotland Way’ is in this tournament.
“Playing at home is always special, and the chance for the players to run out in front of a packed crowd of family and friends is something we are all looking forward to.
“We are also really looking forward to welcoming back those players who played for Team GB in Paris, and look forward to the opportunity to celebrate their achievement in front of our hockey community.”
Wales (World number 25)
Wales are looking to add to their memorable summer in which their Under-21 side qualified for the Junior World Cup by winning the Euro Hockey U21 Championship II in Czechia.
Of that panel, Amy Cradden, Ava Dempsey, Freya Diamond, Maisie Riley, Betsan Thomas and Caitlin Witham are all included for this competition to represent Wales at senior level in the Euro qualifiers.
The side is captained by Beth Bingham who has 115 caps for Wales; Emily Rowlands just gained her 50th cap for Wales in the summer series while goalkeeper Ella Jackson will gain her 50th cap in Scotland.
Wales have just played Malaysia, in three test matches for the summer series in Cardiff, winning one of the matches and drawing the other two with Freya Diamond leading the scoring.
Head coach Kevin Johnson commented:”The selected group has a fresh feel about it with 8 players who have 5 caps or less included and they will be looking to build on some encouraging performances across last week’s summer series of matches against Malaysia. I am hoping we continue to take a positive approach to the way we are trying to play the game and use this tournament as a key stepping stone towards further progression for a group whose potential is exciting to work with.”
Czechia (World number 26)
Czechia coach Gareth Grundie says his side are “excited for the tournament and looking to build on the good progress and experience we gained over the past year, getting to the Olympic qualifiers. We want to keep that momentum going and give ourselves a chance at qualifying for A division and looking ahead towards World Cup qualifiers.”
They are looking to qualify for the top division for the first time since 2017 having finished as runners-up in Championship II in Prague last summer.
Their side is captained by Katerina Lacina (113 caps) with Adela Lehovcova (132 caps) the other experienced figure. At the other end of the scale, goalkeepers Terezie Pažiktová (on debut) and Diana Svyščuk (2 caps) looking to make their mark.
They are among a new generation making their mark with half of the panel playing for the Under-21 side earlier this summer in Rakovnik in their silver medal run at Championship II-A.
Among them, Natalia Hajkova has been part of the international setup for five years; Linda Nova is the youngest player in the panel and is in for her first senior tournament after challenge matches this summer against Spain.
Linda Nedvědová is also 18 and captained their Under-18 side last summer and played in the Olympic qualifiers earlier this year. Medicine student Zuzana Semrádová and Under-21 captain Veronika Pribikova are also established members of the panel as is Katerina Topinkova.
The 19-year-old played with boys teams until she was 15, primarily in defence. She switched to striker for two years and is now back in defense following a break due to a herniated disc injury.
Of the more experienced players, Veronika Decsy has played in the German Bundesliga for Harvestehuder THC and in Spain for Real Sociedad. She missed a significant phase of her career following a big car crash in 2021 which saw her spend three months in hospital and then use a wheelchair for a time.
Natalie Nováková was introduced to hockey by her father and has been playing with the national team since she was 16 in 2017, playing in the European A division in Amsterdam.
Her older sister Veronika finished with the national team last year and was a large part of her national team career while her father was her Czech under-21 coach when they won European indoor gold.
Like many in her panel, she cites another beautiful memory last year when the side took second place in the European B division and advance to the Olympic qualifiers in India. She played a key role in the Indoor World Cup bronze success in South Africa, too. She is able to manage the hectic schedule as a tattoo artist by profession, a job she can arrange around her hockey commitments.
Austria (World number: 32)
Sven Lindemann’s side concluded their extensive programme with camps in Cologne and Leverkusen before heading to Glasgow. It follows quickly after a series of close-run games against Italy (losing 2-1) and Czechia (drawing 1-1) earlier in August.
With Stella van Rahden, they can rely on an experienced goalkeeper. The midfield will certainly be the engine of our team with Mannheimer HC’s Fiona Felber and Laura Kern – one of a number of players from national champions AHTC like Johanna Czech who had and an outstanding club season.
Under-21 player Katharina Proksch was able to gain a lot of important experience in the A-Pool European Championships during the summer, captaining the side who played at that level for the first time in 40-years.
Their first goal is to win the match and thus have a place in the European second tier next summer and start to match their incredible indoor form in recent years, winning World Cup silver in 2023 and European bronze earlier this year.
Croatia (World number 55)
It has been a long time since July last year since their last international fixture at the EuroHockey Championship III in Zagreb, where they took fourth place behind Türkiye, Switzerland and Gibraltar.
Their only outing came indoors in Ireland (Galway) at the EuroHockey Indoor Championship II, where they won third place.
As such, coach Christopher Mills says: “We have genuine excitement for the upcoming European Championship Qualifiers. The last competition, we took a medal in Ireland.
“Our expectations will be the same this time out. The tournament structure adds an extra layer of competition that demands our best from the very start. It’s a challenge we’re ready to embrace.
“This championship isn’t just another tournament for us – it’s an opportunity to demonstrate our ability to compete at the highest level. With the Indoor World Cup on the horizon in February, we’re eager to use this experience to fine-tune our game and prove that we’re ready to excel on the world stage.
“With a blend of experienced players and new talent, we’re ready to take on the challenge and make our mark at the European Championship Qualifiers.”
Their panel features former Ukraine international Iryna Stelnyk who will be one of their most experienced players. Seven of the panel are teenagers with 16-year-old Viktorija Zajec and 17-year-old Emily Dickel set for international debuts.
Lithuania (World number 65)
Despite not playing any 11-a-side fixtures in 2024 to date, Lithuania have had a busy year to date in the shorter formats. They ended as runners-up at the EuroHockey Indoor Championship II with four wins out of five, defeating Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Croatia.
On the Hockey 5s front in the summer, they also picked up wins over Finland and Luxembourg to end in seventh place in Walcz with the vastly experienced Dovile Kukliene racking up eight goals and Samanta Jakoleva netting 10 times. In total, the team scored 43 times in five games.
Outdoors, they have not played since last summer’s EuroHockey Championship II in Prague when they finished in seventh spot.
They know they have a tough opening fixture. Lithuania lost 2-0 to Austria in 2023 in Championship II, a fourth successive defeat dating back to 2012 when they two sides drew 1-1 in the World League Round 1 in Vienna.
