WAC are aiming to try and win back-to-back European club titles on home turf as they welcome the EuroHockey Club Challenge I women’s event to Vienna in Austria.
They compete in Pool B alongside newcomers Racing Club de France, Portugal’s Lisbon Casuals and Croatia’s HAHK Mladost – the latter two both having won Euro gold medals in 2023.
Pool A has HC Olten from Switzerland, Italy’s HF Lorenzoni, Welsh Cup winners Howardian LHC and another debut side – IFK SumDPU from Ukraine.
After the four team group, the top two from each section go through to one of two gold medal matches.
** To follow all the scores and match data from the event, click here
EuroHockey Club Challenge I – team by team overview
Pool A
HC Olten (Switzerland)
How Qualified: national runners-up
The Swiss side finished second in the indoor championship and is currently second outdoors, chasing number one Rotweiss Wettingen. They do have a Final4 tournament ticket in the pocket with four games to go and the goal is to get the championship title this season on June 9th
The preparation to the EuroCup was intensive an effective. After playing several test matches and championship games and with some additional trainings (athletics and short corners) the squad is physically and tactically prepared for the intense series.
The side is captained by 23-year-old Stéphanie Weber, a long-time youth international player who has elevated to be a current member of the Swiss national team.
Goalkeeper Ursina Fazis produced one of the moments of the Challenge II in Vienna last year with an amazing save against Gaziantep Doruk that went viral (they ended in fifth place). She was also elected the best goalkeeper of the 2022 EuroHockey qualifiers in Dunkirk.
Ex-internationals Nadine Pfister – a highly experienced gamemaker – and defensive chief Séline Grütter add to their options.
HF Lorenzoni Bra (Italy)
How Qualified: Italian Cup winners
Sixth in Trophy in 2022, HF Lorenzoni come into this year’s competition on a high with back-to-back 3-1 wins in the Italian league have lifted them to third place in the table.
Their big players include goalkeeper Alina Fadieieva, a Ukrainian with big European experience both nationally and internationally, most recently at the Olympic qualifiers in Valencia. Pilar di Biase – orginally from Argentina – is part of the Italian national side
Olha Kurovska is another with plenty of background, playing with MSC Sumchanka and HC Minsk in Europe.
Howardian Ladies HC (Wales)
How Qualified: Welsh Cup winners
Howardian LHC will play in just their second European outdoor club competition – they have played in several indoor tournaments – following their Welsh Cup final shoot-out win last year.
The last time came at the EuroHockey Cup Winners trophy in 2006 and so this is a new realm for their panel who finished this season second in the Welsh Premier League.
The side has a wide range of experience with two young stars – goalkeeper Ruby Butler and Hollie Fletcher – recently making their debuts for the Welsh Under-18s while they have a number of active players on the masters circuit. Captain Dawn Mitchell played at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Olivia Moore is one to watch out for on the goalscoring front.
IFK SumDPU (Ukraine)
How qualified: second in 2023 championship
The club finished second in last year’s championship and are also heading for another second place finish in the current season behind multi-time champions MSC Sumchanka.
Their leading players are captains Viktoria Mazurkevych and Oleksandra Pikhulia who are former Ukrainian national team players. Another player to watch is one of the younger players – 15-year-old Sofia Basanets who was last year’s Under-16 5s European Championships winner and top scorer.
This is their first European appearance but several of the side played with TSOP Kolos Boryspol in Challenge II in Vienna last year, ending in third place.
Pool B
HAHK Mladost (Croatia)
How Qualified: Double winners
Croatia’s number one outfit qualified as winners of their national championship and cup and they are in good shape to do so once more, sitting top of their league table. They also won the Euro Challenge III in Portugal last year with Lucija Čepo scoring an incredible eight goals in three games.
They have 11 players who are part of the international setup and they will look forward to playing at this level of competition for the first time.
Lisbon Casuals (Portugal)
How Qualified: National Champions
For Lisbon Casuals, this will be their second European outing of 2024 having won silver at the Indoor Challenge I in February. Since then, they finished second in the regular season in Portugal and have made it through to the final against GD Viso whom they will meet next week.
Yanina Rojas is their go-to goalscorers with seven goals in four games while Jesica Alcoba is another who has been prolific this term in Portugal. Goalkeeper Maria Jeltsch is a great addition for this stage as well – the German has played in both the EuroHockey Club Cup in 2019 and Euro Hockey League in 2021 with Der Club an der Alster.
Eight of their panel were involved in their gold medal run last year in Challenge III and so they will hope to make an impression at this level once again.
Racing Club de France (France)
How Qualified: French regular season champions
Racing Club de France’s women are playing in their first ever European women’s club competition following their success during the regular season last year. They ultimately ended in third place in the playoffs in 2023 while they were semi-finalists once again this season in France, falling 2-1 to Saint Germain last weekend in the third place playoff.
As such, there is only a small amount of experience on this stage with Paola Le Nindre – part of the senior French setup – and Constance Terlinden having payed with Stade Francais a few years ago.
They do have a healthy group of French Under-18s in their panel in Fanny Ruby, Margaux Grunbaum and Emilie Samaté.
WAC (Austria)
How Qualified: national runners-up
Tournament hosts WAC are looking to make it back-to-back European titles having won gold on home turf a year ago in Challenge II. They missed out on the Austrian title by the narrowest of margins last season, their two-legged final with AHTC going to a shoot-out.
This year, they are in second behind the same rival once again but have a playoff place already assured with the final on June 9th.
WAC have a quartet of internationals: goalkeeper Stella van Rahden has been the national number one for many years; Lena Buchta and Carla Kemper are their two captains, holding strong the defense while striker Isabella Klausbruckner also has a great great penalty corner flick.
“We will bring everything to the pitch as a collective, just like we do in the current championship,” promises Kemper,
Compared to last year, the Australian striker Renae Robinson is missing, but the young Ukrainian Iryna Melezhyk has an outstanding talent as the second goalkeeper in the squad behind Austria’s number one Stella van Rahden.
“Teams change all the time, but our core is together and that makes us strong. We have talent, we have routine, we have quality and, above all, a huge desire to fight for our success in front of our fans for four days,” adds Kemper.
