Türkiye won the women’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship II in Lousada, taking promotion alongside Italy with the sides only separated by goal difference.

For the Turks, the remarkable goalscoring of Fatma Songül Gültekin was a vital factor as they won the title with a greater goal difference after the two sides finished level on points.

But they needed a lot of late drama to secure the gold; needing a win against Croatia to seal the deal, they were in all sorts of trouble in the final quarter.

The Croats held a 3-2 lead going into the last 10 minutes and were 4-3 up with less than three minutes to go. Two rapid-fire goals from Zeliha Kendir put them in front 5-4 only for Lucija Čepo to equalise with one minute left.

But Gültekin summoned one last goal to snatch a 6-5 win that saw them over the line.

Earlier, Sweden began day two in with their second win, putting a dent in Slovakia’s promotion hopes with a 4-3 success with Nora Thien’s goal in Q4 deciding the contest.

They had previously led 1-0 and 3-1 with the Slovaks fighting back both times before Thien’s winner in the 33^rd minute.

Italy guaranteed they would be promoted when they won 7-0 against Croatia with six different goalscorers on target. It put them out of range of both Croatia, Slovakia and Sweden in one go with Türkiye the other side left in contention for overall gold.

The Turks were next to assure their promotion, boosting their goal difference in super style as they ran up a 13-0 win against Portugal. Once again, Gültekin was the main performer, scoring seven goals for a second successive game – it brought her tournament total to 23 goals and gave them a 17-goal buffer over Italy with one game left each.

Sweden completed their tournament with their biggest win, seeing off Finland 18-0 with Yiva von Blanquet scoring 12 times to put them in the frame for a bronze medal.

Italy concluded their campaign with a 6-2 success against Slovakia, a result which saw the latter side end their competition in fifth place overall. Lola Brea and Sara Puglisi both scored twice.

The Italians then had to wait to see if Croatia could do them a favour, something that almost materialised in their hopes of gold.

The tournament closed with Portugal making their home crowd happy with a 5-1 success against Finland with two goals from captain Ana Nogueira.

EuroHockey Indoor Championship II (Lousada, Portugal) – final rankings

1. Türkiye – promoted to EuroHockey Indoor Championship for 2028
2. Italy – promoted to EuroHockey Indoor Championship for 2028
3. Sweden
4. Croatia
5. Slovakia
6. Portugal
7. Finland