The women’s EuroHockey Club Trophy II scene is set in Alanya with the renamed competition now offering potentially vital points for the EHL Ranking Table for the nations of the participating teams.
Turkish side Gaziantep Polisgücü are looking to add to their incredible momentum having finished second in the Indoor Club Cup in February. They are in Pool B with Cambrai who recently retained the French title, an AHTC side with a 100% record in the Austrian league and Lithuanian leaders Siauliai.
Pool A starts proceedings on a Friday with student sides Edinburgh University and UCD lining out against Czechia’s HC 1972 Rakovnik and Swansea from Wales.
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EuroHockey Club Trophy II – team by team overview
Pool A
Edinburgh University (Scotland)
How Qualified: grand finalist runners-up
Edinburgh University are looking to add to their excellent European record, winning gold in the Challenge I in 2018 and Challenge II in both 2017 and 2022.
They come into this year’s competition having ended second in the Scottish league and then missed out on the grand final at the semi-final stage. They did pick up the Scottish Plate.
Despite being a university side, there is strong experience. Amy Brodie is a seasoned player with a wealth of skill and experience and will be attending her fifth club Europeans amongst multiple senior euros and the Commonwealth Games (Gold Coast). She will add great value, flair and experience to their team.
Ruth Blaikie is a talented and skilful Scottish senior international who only joined this season but has certainly left her mark. She will be hoping to cut open the European sides with her exceptional technical and tactical skill set. Jika Nyirenda is another current Scottish international player who has been clinical in front of goal in the Scottish league.
Ava Smith is another notable goal scorer in the Scottish league who will be hungry for goals. She narrowly missed out attending club Europeans two years ago due to a knee injury but is excited to bounce back hard this year.
HC 1972 Rakovník (Czechia)
How Qualified: national runners-up
HC 1972 Rakovnik are playing in European outdoor competition for the sixth time since 2018 with highlights including gold medals at the Challenge II in 2021 and Challenge III in 2019. In 2023, they were seventh in the Trophy.
This season, they ended the Czech regular season in second place and have advanced to the semi-finals of the national championship.
Anna Vorlova is one of the most experienced players of our team and has been part of the senior national team for a long time. She recently participated in the indoor world championships (3rd place), outdoor EuroHockey Championship II (1st place) and the qualification for the Olympic Games.
Katerina Basova is a fellow international who was part of those latter two events while Under-21 and senior star Veronika Pribikova should add plenty to their line-up. She missed the outdoor European Championships as she was recovering from the torn ACL, but her last event before the injury was the indoor European U21 championship (2nd place).
Swansea (Wales)
How Qualified: Highest ranked Welsh club side
The Welsh Cup winners have had a tough season in the English leagues where they finished with one win from the National League Division 1 North. As such, they will be looking to finish their season on a high.
They have played over 30 times on the European outdoor stage with last year’s Challenge II performance in Vienna being particularly memorable as they won four out of four matches, including a 3-0 final win over Kolos Boryspol to win gold.
Welsh international goalkeeper Ella Jackson also captains the side and will be integral to their challenge in a very youthful panel with just eight of last year’s wider squad returning for this stint in Europe.
UCD (Ireland)
How qualified: EY Champions Trophy finalists
The Dublin student side qualified for their fifth European event by virtue of their run to the Irish championship final last year. This season, they reached the semi-finals of the competition once again but bowed out at that stage of the competition.
Their big star is defender Sarah McAuley who was part of the Irish Olympic team in 2021 when she was still a teenager but there is a doubt whether she will travel with the team.
The other Green Army panelist is Mikayla Power who was named this week as a reserve for the FIH Nations Cup. She is among a wealth of Irish underage internationals like KJ Marshall, captain Emma Paul, Leah O’Shea and Sophia Cole.
Katherine Egan is the only player in the wider panel to play in a European competition – she played in the Club Cup in 2018 in Surbiton and then in the 2019 Trophy at Holcombe.
As the competition takes place during their exam period, they have travelled with an invigilator from the university to facilitate doing exams while in Türkiye.
Pool B
AHTC Wien (Austria)
How Qualified: National champions
“Fasten your seat belt is the team motto for AHTC Wien as they look to make their mark and push for a top finish in Alanya.
Head coach Christian Hoffmann sees his side as ideally equipped for this: “We have developed excellently as a team at the national level in recent years and have won the last four state championships.
“We also have a few goals that we would like to achieve at international level. As champions, we play in the European Cup Trophy and only deal with top teams. It will be important to achieve your absolute maximum in every game. If we can do that, I am sure that we will achieve a very good result, because my girls definitely have the quality for it!”
They have yet to drop any points in the regular season of the Austrian Bundesliga and internationals like Miriam Gerö (Captain, 23 international caps), Konrat Ruth (22), Laura Kern (19) and Johanna Czech (15) to draw on.
Cambrai (France)
How Qualified: National champions
Cambrai were crowned back-to-back French champions last weekend in Lille when they got the better of the host club 3-1 in the final, backing up their 2023 final win over Saint Germain.
Key to their chances is the form of Mickaëla Lahlah who lines out with the national team as well as captain Agustina Arista. Charlotte Querleu’s strong shooting is also a feature. Twelve of their panel played in last year’s Challenge II in Vienna where they picked up third place with Paloma Alessi firing in four goals.
Gaziantep Polisgücü (Türkiye)
How Qualified: National champions
Gaziantep Polisgücü are looking to continue their rise having finished in third place last season in the Challenge I, their best result outdoors to date in European outdoor hockey. They broke new ground in February when they took silver in the indoor European Club Cup in Alanya.
Outdoors, they have since won the Turkish title, winning five games out of five in the championship playoff, crucially beating nearest rivals Alanya Stars. Fatma Songül Gültekin was the player of the tournament – between indoors and outdoors, the 26-year-old has over 300 career goals to her name.
There is a large amount of further European experience with captain Perihan Çinar, Emine Çelik, Yeter Çelik, Gamze Zor and captain Meryem Oymak hoping to bring that to bear.
Šiauliai Ginstrektė-Akademija (Lithuania)
How Qualified: National champions
The Lithuanian league leaders are near ever-presents in European outdoor club events for the past decade and they return to Alanya where they finished fifth in 2023 in Challenge I.
Samanta Jakovleva,Dovile Kukliene, Karolina Raulinaityte, Viktorija Bogdanova, Rimante Gudeliauskyte and Ugne Kievišaite are all involved with the senior national team.
Their club coach Vaidotas Vaičeliūas is also the Lithuanian national team main coach.