New line-ups abound this week in Walcz, Poland for the women’s EuroHockey 5s Championship with four nations making their first senior international appearance on this stage.
In Pool A, it is particularly historic with Luxembourg making their female international debut; they are up against 5s newcomers Finland, Sweden, Wales and World Cup bronze medalists Poland.
Pool B is also a mix of experiences with Euro bronze winners Ukraine and Türkiye – fifth a year ago – up against new blood in the form of Italy and Lithuania.
They will all play initial round-robin group from Wednesday to Friday before the crossovers begin. The top two in each group go into the semi-finals, third in each group will playoff for fifth and sixth while the remaining three sides play a mini-league for seventh to ninth.
Each game from this competition – and the men’s edition being held over the same days in Walcz – will be live-streamed via www.eurohockeytv.org. It is free to view with registration to the site.
Team by team preview
Pool A
Finland
The Finnish side started training together as a group last Autumn in anticipation of their first EuroHockey 5s championship appearance. Given the weather in their country, though, they only got to train outside a month ago.
As the Finnish women’s national team has just been established, this will be the first international competitions on an outdoor pitch with this line-up. Four years ago, they were solely playing indoor, taking part in Championship II in Bratislava.
Captain Thelma-Julia Lill-Smeds says of the event: “We are looking forward to the games and are aware that this is a certain kind of ‘jump into the unknown’. We will go to the games as underdogs, but we will give our all and certainly put up a good fight against the other teams.”
Luxembourg
Luxembourg will make an historic first female appearance on the international stage as they make their bow on the Hockey 5s stage. Their panel has a wide variety of experience with five players aged between 16 and 18 while captain Diane Krüger (45) and Francoise Holper (44) will be the guiding lights for the youngsters.
Poland
Hosts Poland are one of the sides to watch on home turd as they look to back up their World Cup bronze medal in this format and there are eight of the players that helped achieve that success named in their wider panel.
Key among is Dutch-based short Amelia Katerla who scored four times in the bronze match and ended the tournament with 10 goals in six games overall. Of the changes, captain Marlena Rybacha has since retired but there are opportunities for teenagers Marta Czujewicz and Oliwia Krychniak.
The side has a trio Hamburg-based players with Julia Balcerzak, Sandra Tatarczuk and Marta Kucharska playing with Grossflottbeker while there is also a trip from national outdoor champs KS Start Brzeziny.
Sweden
With less than a week to go before the event, the Swedish team is reporting a “nervousness and excitement in the team”. Last year, they not only made theirr first appearance in the championships but also their first time playing the new Hockey 5s format.
This year, they return to the Euros with a clearer picture of what awaits in Poland with a lot of intense hockey both on and off the field; it’s goes beyond the matches but also to the speed and volume of tactical discussion to implement in the rapid-fire competition.
Seven of their travelling panel have played at 5s international level before while many also have indoor Euro experience, either at club or international level.
The EuroHockey 5s tournament in Poland will be the first time for this exact team to play together and, without an official hockey pitch in Sweden, it is a big test for them. The side has two pairs of sisters – Emma and Sofia Guitink and Lynn and Laetitia Schrader – and have players based in four different countries.
Wales
Wales will be looking build on their senior international performance in 2023 where they ended up in seventh overall, winning a thrilling 4-3 playoff against group rivals Sweden.
It follows improving performances at Under-16 level. In 2019 at the same Walcz venue, they took sixth place and – in 2022 – ended in fourth place.
The side has five returning players and five newcomers and also includes four teenagers in a youthful line-up. 19-year-old Ava Dempsey captains the team.
Head coach Wallid Abdo commented on the selection stating: “It’s a great opportunity to expose the team to this format and add to their international experience. We’ll be travelling to a fantastic venue and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to surprise a few teams.”
Five of the panel will also feature two weeks later at the EuroHockey Under-21 Championship II event in Rakovnik, Czechia.
Pool B
Italy
Italy make their international debut on the 5s circuit at any level but they arrive in Poland with six players who have experience of high level competition under their belts. Sofia Vercelli (13 caps) and Candela Carosso (11 caps) have the most senior 11-a-side experience to their names while Alessia Anania, Clara Ramon and Maria Inaudi have also lined out at that level.
Chiara di Bella captain the Italian Under-21 indoor side last year and will be part of their line-up later this month outdoors in Rakovnik. The debutants are 17-year-old goalkeeper Silvia Omegna, Augustina D’Ascola, Maria Fiorelli and Delfina Granatto. Carosso and Fiorellia hail from Super Coppa winners SG Amsicora.
Lithuania
Lithuania are making their first female entry onto the 5s stage since their Under-16s lined out in Wattignies, ending up with a seventh place finish. The country played host to an international Hockey 5s coaches seminar in Šiauliai last weekend – alongside coaches from Estonia – under the tutelage of Norbert Nederlof, the former Polish women’s coach. It was organised by current men’s and women’s Lithuania team manager Ugne Chmeliauskaitė and they will hope to use those tactical innovations to bolster their performance this week.
Türkiye
Turkish preparations have advance at an intense pace, including hot weather camps in Alanya and a subsequent Hockey 5s Türkiye Championship was held in Konya.
It is a new look side from the one which finished in fifth place a year ago with just three of the panel back for a second appearance on this stage. Fatma Songül Gultekin is one of European hockey’s goal machines, helping her club Gaziantep Polisgücü to indoor Club Cup silver in February. Her fellow returnees are goalkeeper Arzu Öztürk and Tuğçe Şahiner.
Zeyni Efe Bozkurt Head Coach says of the panel: “We have experienced players who won bronze medals in the European U21 indoor championships, bronze medals in the U16 5s European Championships, and silver medals in the indoor club cup championships. We play team games, we do not talk about the individual successes of our players. We will represent our country in the best way possible
“Our team consists of young and experienced players. We trust our players, we have a team that runs on the field until the last second.
“Many of our players do not have a hockey field in their city, we only have players who train on concrete fields in the indoor hall, but they have a big dream and they will be on the field to realise their dream.”
The technical staff of the team consists of the head coaches of three successful teams in the Turkish Super League: Zeyni Efe Bozkurt (Kırıkkale HC), Serkan Şen (Ege Yıldızları SC), Yakup Fırat (Adana HC)
Ukraine
Ukraine’s main preparation for this event came in winter during the Hockey5s World Cup in Oman and the composition of the team has hardly changed.
They finished in seventh place overall there, winning four out of their six games with their defeats only coming at the hands of the two eventual finalists – notably 4-2 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Karyna Leonova has been a star striker, netting 10 in the World Cup and 11 in their bronze medal success on the European stage 12 months ago.
During last two years, they have had a young team and a very busy competition schedule (Olympic qualifying tournament, European Indoor Hockey Championship) and have had to make adjustments. Hockey5 is played by the majority of young girls led by experienced captain Kateryna Shokalenko.
Their motto is a saying of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko: “Keep fighting – you are sure to win, God helps you in your fight! For fame and freedom march with you, and right is on your side!
“Unfortunately, a war has been raging in Ukraine for the past 2.5 years, so everything is connected with this terrible event. We are very grateful for the fact that we have the opportunity to do our favourite thing – play hockey!”
