The fourth tier of European men’s club competition sees seven teams hit the turf in Konya, Türkiye, bidding to land gold and promotion for their nation.
Pool A has been reduced to three teams due to the late withdrawal of Poland’s WKS Grunwald Poznan. As such, HK Concordia 1906 from Croatia, Slovenia’s HK Triglav Predanovci and Welsh side Swansea will all be battling to be in the top two of three to advance to one of Monday’s two finals.
Pool B has complete newcomers ASD Tevere EUR from Italy going up against vastly experienced sides in the form of Gibraltar’s Grammarians, Türkiye’s Gaziantep Polisgücü and Hungary’s Építők.
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EuroHockey Club Challenge I Men – team by team overview
Pool A
HK “CONCORDIA 1906” (Croatia)
Qualified as: Third placed overall but second after league phase
The Croatian second seed are ready for their second Euro club tournament having ended up in fifth place in 2022’s Challenge I. They are currently in second place in the league, one point behind leaders HAHK Mladost whom they lost to in the cup semi-final 3-2.
The side is captained by Filip Žlimen who played in the EuroHockey Indoor Championship in Leuven and is constantly playing tournaments and test matches for national team (around 50 caps indoor+outdoor).
Two South African players are in their first season with the club: Rusten Abrahams and Corben Stubbs – the former played for SA in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. All of the younger players are playing for the Croatia national team at U16, U18 and U21 level.
Žlimen says of their hopes: “We had great preparations for the last three months, we are ready and can’t wait for the tournament to start. Our goal is to present HK Concordia in the best possible way and try to promote ourselves to a higher level of the competition.”
Športni Klub Triglav Predanovci (Slovenia)
Qualified as: National Champions
SK Triglav Predanovci have enjoyed a consistent series of late with three successive third place finishes in Challenge II and they have qualified again as national champions.
This tournament comes as part of a busy phase for the club with the outcome of their domestic season coming down to a date with HK Lipovci for the title.
Key Players include Nejc Potokar who has played in 40 EuroHockey matches and has often won the top scorer and best player title in the domestic league – an incredible goalscorer and dribbler.
Domen Godina is another and enters the competition in red-hot form in a utility role around the pitch; Tomaž Panker captains the team and is the mastermind on the field and a great playmaker.
Head coach Alan Nemec said of their chances: “We’ve been preparing for this championship for the whole season, that’s why we’re devastated that we are going to be missing a lot of key players.
“At the start of the season the goal we set was to try and reach promotion. But since we’re coming with a handicapped team we’re aiming to stay in C1. Staying in C1 is achievable since we still have a great team, but we do only have three substitutes (players).
“We’re coming in hot since we won our last two domestic league matches with over 20 goals scored; although we’re going to be missing some great players I’m confident that we can still play the way we intend to.”
Swansea Hockey Club (Wales)
Qualified as: National Runners Up
It has been something of a transitional season for the Welsh club after a super 2022/23. Last minute coaching changes meant they found lift difficult and finished in 10th in the league and lost in the semi-final of the Welsh Cup.
Nonetheless, they have plenty of players to be excited about. Charlie Johnson, forward for the Welsh Under-23s, is coming of the back of a test series against England. This will be his first European club competition; he has run the forward line creating numerous chances.
Thomas Viney is a crucial midfielder and plays in his 6th European club competition; he is also a Wales Masters Player. Played in his first European club competition as a junior at the club and has been crucial in the team ever since.
Jake Joyce is another talismanic midfielder, similarly in his 6th European club competition, while Callum Chapman is goalkeeper and captain of the team. Last year, he won GK of the tournament at the Eurohockey Trophy II, with previous junior international England caps.
Chapman’s assessment: “We are excited to travel to Konya, after a tough start to the year we finished the season strongly and are ready to take this forward into the Championships. Last year we had a young squad with minimal experience exposure to the European stage. This year we are ready to put take those lessons forward and show what Swansea HC is about!”
Pool B
ASD Tevere EUR (Italy)
Qualified as: National runners-up
With perfect timing for their European debut, the Rome club leapt into first position in the Italian table with a 2-0 win over HC Bra, moving above SG Amsicora last weekend.
They qualified for the competition thanks to their runners-up position last year in the national championship and have built a strong squad. It features internationals like Fabrizio Federici (30 caps), Luca Da Gai (32 caps), Andrea Corsi (38 caps), Martin Zalatel (31 caps) and rising star Felix Dionisi Vici.
Gaspa Garrone also took gold with Argentina at the men’s Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021.
Captain Da Gai says of the tournament: “Tevere EUR is participating for the first time in a European club competition. We will try to make a good impression!”
Tevere EUR was formed in an area of Rome called EUR. At the beginning, all of the society’s athletes lived in this neighborhood and still today many of them have their residence here.
Gaziantep Polisgücü SK (Türkiye)
Qualified as: National runners-up
Gaziantep Polisgücü won back the national title last week from Nizip Zeugma when they won their six team championship playoff phase, going unbeaten with three wins and two draws. It was enough to win the title by a single point.
Key to their success is Celal Aydin who scored 16 times over the season with Ali Akin Özkiliç accounting for 10 of their total. Both are entering their seventh Euro club outdoor competition as is Mehmet Akif Cetiner and captain/goalkeeper Yusuf Yasar.
Müslüm Ekinci and Müslüm Elagoz both switched from Nizip Zeugma this season to add to their options while they have added a couple of Iranian players to their panel who they will hope can be available for the event.
Last season, they ended sixth in Trophy II while in 2022 they were bronze medalists in Challenge I.
Grammarians Hockey Club (Gibraltar)
Qualified as: National Champions
Grammarians have their eye on going one step further than 2023 when they took bronze in Challenge I.
The Ramagge brothers Shane and Carl go into their 15th Eurohockey Club tournament, surely a record for Gibraltar while captain Jorgen Haveland also brings plenty of experience along with Swedish GK Niclas Franzen whilst young Nick Pilcher will also be looking to make a mark.
After many years of representing Partille HC, Franzen will be wearing the maroon and amber of Grammarians HC
“We are happy to be participating and looking forward to a good four days of hockey!” is the team outlook. “We have a mixed bag of extremely experienced players and at the other end of the spectrum some debutants.”
Építők Hockey XClub (Hungary)
Qualified as: National Champions
The Hungarian champions come into the competition off the back of a highly competitive 2-2 draw with nearest rivals Soroksari with goals from Farkas Wesselnényi and the prolific German Samuel Bosch. It gives them a narrow two point lead in the table with one round of fixtures to be played.
It is a well settled side with eight players having played 15 matches or more in Europe. Zsigmond Szóga and Márton Wesselényi’s goals last year in Challenge II helped them earn a bronze medal with wins over Slovene, Norweigian and Maltese opposition.
This will be their 11th European outdoor competition.
