The EuroHockey Championships II gets underway on Sunday, July 27th in Lousada, Portugal. So what’s at stake? First and second place in Lousada will be promoted to the EuroHockey Championship 2027, which will take place in London.
In addition, the third placed team will win qualification for the FIH World Cup Qualifiers (March 2026). The remaining teams will qualify for the EuroHockey Championship Qualifier I 2026.
The competition consists of eight teams, split into two groups of four with Ireland, Czechia, Italy and Portugal in Pool A and Scotland, Switzerland, Croatia and Wales in Pool B. The top two in each group advance to the semi-finals while the bottom two will play for rankings in Pool C.
** All games will be streamed free of charge on www.eurohockeytv.org for registered users
** To follow all the live scores, go to: https://tms.fih.ch/competitions/1756
Pool A
Portugal (World Ranking: 51)
Portugal is the proud host in Lousada, with the home crowd behind them and a squad filled with energy, youth, and a sprinkling of international experience. This will be their first international outing since last year’s qualifiers in Vienna where they beat Switzerland but missed out on third place to Scotland.
Squad Overview:
Head coach Ferreira has named a balanced 18-player squad representing a wide range of domestic and European clubs. Key figures include Aidan Fourie and Tomás Teixeira, both from Casa Pia AC who bring solid understanding and domestic chemistry.
The vastly experienced David Franco, playing in Germany with Gladbacher HTC, is a key figure along with Düsseldorfer HC brothers Quentin and Laurens Halfmann. Rodrigo Castro (KHC Leuven) and Tiago Ventosa (Royal Antwerp HC) inject Belgian league sharpness into the midfield and forward lines.
With the Championship on home soil, expectations are naturally higher. Coach Ferreira supported by assistant coach Carlos Silva, will be looking to capitalise on the recent development efforts within Portuguese hockey.
Ireland (World Ranking: 11)
Highest ranked Ireland arrives in Lousada with one objective: to reach the final and secure promotion to the EuroHockey Championship 2027. With a seasoned squad and recent Pro League experience under their belts, the Green Machine looks like one of the teams to beat.
Squad Overview:
The Irish squad boasts a dozen of the side who were involved in last summer’s Olympic Games panel in Paris. Jaime Carr is looking to add to an incredible 2025 in which he has won the Hockey India League, EHL and Belgian championship.
Sean Murray, Lee Cole, Kyle Marshall and Jeremy Duncan form a spine of top-tier talent while Matthew Nelson and Johnny McKee add pace and firepower. Tim Cross returns after a break from action for the Pro League while Fergus Gibson will play his first major tournament since 2021.
After completing their FIH Pro League campaign – including a win over Belgium and a draw with England – Ireland enjoyed a brief recovery period before heading to Poznań for a double-header against Poland which they won handsomely.
“The players and staff have put in an incredible amount of work to ensure we’re in the best possible position to perform when it matters,” said head coach Mark Tumilty.
Italy (World Ranking: 27)
Italy travels to Portugal for their first senior international matches since last summer’s qualifiers when they won against Malta and Türkiye but an opening shoot-out loss to eventual champions Poland denied them a greater shot at further progression. They are hoping to push for a first top tier spot since 2003.
Squad Overview:
Head coach Gianluca Cirilli has selected a panel of youth and experience with Mattia Amorosini representing the latter having played in the Hoofdklasse with SCHC. Valerio Iossa is at the other end of the spectrum as he will make his senior debut at the event having captain the Italian Under-18s last week.
Manuel Mondo (Sanse Complutense), Marco Moretto (Junior FC) and Davide Arosio (Herakles) ply their trade in Europe’s top leagues while Felix Dionisi Vici is an exciting rising talent.
Czechia (World Ranking: 31)
Czechia heads with a squad built largely from homegrown talent playing in domestic and central European competitions. Most recently, they played two closely fought battles with Poland, beat Croatia and drew with Austria in a flurry of challenge matches.
Squad Overview:
Lukáš Plochý and captain Adam Uhlíř bring. the major experience to the table for a quite a young panel which features 16-year-old Frantisek Toms and 18-year-old Štěpán Šmíd as well as four more players aged 21 or under.
Evaluating their preparation, head coach Miroslav Ludvík said: “Our budget was quite tight, but we still managed to put together an interesting preparation, which was concentrated in the month and week before the championship.
“We are convinced that the team has made a performance increase since last year, especially in developing the game. We seem more mature.”
They are looking to get back up to the top tier for the first time since 2013.
Pool B
Scotland (World Ranking: 21)
Scotland’s men had a sensational start to the year with a gold medal winning performance in Nations Cup 2 in Oman. The Scots won the inaugural tournament with a run of goal-laden victories against USA, Poland, Oman and Egypt.
Struan Walker and Jamie Golden were crowned joint top goal scorers for the tournament, both hitting the net eight times in Muscat. Scotland scored 23 times at the tournament and will be looking to take that goal-scoring form to Lousada.
Walker was a stand-out this season for Surbiton and will move to play in the Hoofdklasse with Oranje-Rood next season. Andy McConnell is another shining in the German league with Harvestehuder THC while Rob Harwood – a key architect of Western Wildcats success of late – is back in the panel after a three-year break.
Rob Field leads from the front as captain of an ambitious side looking to continue their improvement. They were denied a shot at a top tier spot in 2024 by a surprise loss to Ukraine, ultimately finishing in third spot in Vienna in the qualifiers with wins over Croatia and Portugal.
Switzerland (World Ranking: 41)
Switzerland steps into the EuroHockey Championship II in Lousada with a refreshed identity, a young squad, and a clear vision for the future. Now proudly known as the Helvetic Bears, this group is not only chasing results but also building a sustainable legacy for Swiss hockey.
Squad Overview:
“This is a very young team,” says the Swiss coach Jair Levie. “With many players having stepped up from the Under-21s. We’re talented and physically in top shape, and we’ve had a solid four-week preparation.”
That preparation included competitive test matches against Italy and Austria. While they narrowly lost 1–0 to Italy, they bounced back impressively to defeat Austria 2–1.
Key Players to Watch
- Loris Grandchamp will wear the captain’s armband, bringing calm leadership and technical class from the back.
- Leonard Kraxner, a dynamic attacker from UHC Hamburg, is one of the exciting new faces in the squad. His speed, flair, and finishing touch could be key to Swiss ambitions.
- There’s also experience in the form of Lorenz Gasser, who enters the tournament as a recent Swiss champion and future Euro Hockey League player, along with three of his club teammates from HC Olten.
- Fabio Reinhard and Elias Brönnimann, both recent recipients of their 50th cap, offer vital international know-how.
The team is not only aiming to perform well in Lousada — they are consciously building a national identity and long-term project. “We are now known as the Helvetic Bears and we’re working hard to build a sustainable, new Swiss national team,” the coaches explain.
“Our goal at this EuroHockey Championship is to perform at our absolute best and, above all, to help Swiss hockey grow and make people proud of our team. Our motto sums it up perfectly: Leave the jersey in a better place.”
Wales (World Ranking: 17)
Wales arrive in Lousada determined to make their mark. After recent highs, including competing at the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup and EuroHockey Championship 2023, the squad now enters a transitional phase with a younger core and a continued hunger for high-performance results.
Squad Overview
The selected squad features a number of fresh faces alongside some established names who’ve carried the flag in top-level competitions.
Star man is two-time Olympian, Hoofdklasse champion and EHL winner Jacob Draper who will be pivotal in the spine of their team. Theirs is an experienced side with fellow Olympian Rupert Shipperley and Ben Francis co-captaining the side while corner threat Gareth Furlong, Alf Dinnie, Dan Kyriakides, Dale Hutchinson, Fred Newbold and Jack Pritchard have played in a wealth of big tournaments.
They have made two changes to their initially announced squad with John Bennett and Nic Morgan coming into the panel in place of Sam Welsh and Rhodri Furlong.
They finished in fifth place at the recent FIH Nations Cup, showing a lot of sparkle in front of goal with Jolyon Morgan and Pritchard to the fore.
Croatia (World Ranking: 49)
Croatia heads into the EuroHockey Championship II in Lousada as the tournament’s dark horses — a side with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Their preparations took them to the banks of the Suez Canal where they played a tri-nations series with Oman and Egypt.
The series yielded precious game time and while they did not pick up positive ranking points, those were their first international games since the qualifiers last summer where they lost to Switzerland and Scotland but did beat Lithuania.
Josip Krleža, captain Mario Mucić and Filip Žlimen will be important while they will look to emulate their rise on the indoor scene in recent years to the outdoor game.
