EuroHockey League

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Maartje Gooderie lifts the Club Champions Cup with the
winning ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) team.

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EURO RULES

So many of the rules that were unique to the EuroHockey League have been adopted into the official rules of hockey that we only list the main differences.

Match Periods:
Just as per the standard rule book, a match consists of two periods of 35 minutes. Teams change ends at the completion of the first half. However, the EuroHockey League rules also include a 2.5 minute time-out period 17.5 minutes into each half.

Penalty Corners:

Umpires allow at least 45 seconds before the penalty corner to be taken, although time is not stopped. This rule does not apply to the retaking of a penalty corner.

Video Referrals:

Each team is permitted up to three appeals to the video umpire during normal time (with an extra appeal allowed during any extra time in Round 2 onwards). If the team’s appeal is upheld, or no decision is possible, the team retain the right to appeal or further appeals.

Ball Above The Shoulder (New for 2011-12):

A player may stop, receive or deflect a ball above the shoulder, subject to there being no danger. (This extends the right to stop a ball above the shoulder which currently applies only to defenders stopping shots at goal.)

Penalty Shoot Out (New for 2011-12:

This refers to the one-on-one shoot outs used to decide matches in Round 2 onwards. The number of attempts is increased from three to five.

EuroHockey League
Past Results

2007-2008

Venues:

Round 1.1 - HGC (The Hague).
Round 1.2 - Antwerp.

Rounds 2 & 3 - Club Egara, Spain.
Last Four - Rotterdam.

Champions: UHC Hamburg.
Runner-up: HGC (Netherlands).

How did the English clubs do?
Cannock knocked out by Reading in Round 2. Loughborough Students knocked out by UHC Hamburg and Reading knocked out by Rotterdam in Round 3.

2008-2009

Venues:

Round 1.1 - Amsterdam.
Round 1.2 - Lille.
Rounds 2 & 3 - Hamburg.
Last Four - Rotterdam.

Champions: Bloemendaal.

Runner-up: UHC Hamburg.

How did the English clubs do?
Cannock knocked out in Round 2 by Bloemendaal. Reading knocked out by Leuven and East Grinstead knocked out by Bloemendaal in Round 3.

2009-2010

Venues:

Round 1.1 - Barcelona.
Round 1.2 - Paris.

Rounds 2 & 3 - Rotterdam.
Last Four - Amsterdam.

Champions: UHC Hamburg.

Runner-up: Rotterdam.

How did the English clubs do?

All three English Clubs knocked out in Round 2, Beeston by Leuven, East Grinstead by Amsterdam and Reading by RC Polo de Barcelona.

2010-2011

Venues:

Round 1.1 - Eindhoven.
Round 1.2 - Terrassa.

Rounds 2 & 4 - Bloemendaal.
Last Four - HGC, The Hague.

Champions: HGC (Netherland).

Runner-up: RC Polo de Barcelona.

How did the English clubs do?
East Grinstead knocked out by Reading in Round 2. Beeston knocked out by HGC in Round 3. Reading came third by beating Oranje Zwart.

2011-12

Venues:

Round 1.1 - Mulheim.
Round 1.2 - Antwerp.

Rounds 2 & 3 - Rotterdam.
Last Four - To be announced

WOMEN’S CLUB CHAMPIONS CUP RESULTS (Revised format - 2010 onwards)

2010

Venues:

Round 1 & 2 - Berlin
Last Four - Amsterdam.

Champions: ‘s-Hertogenbosch

Runner-up: UHC Hamburg

How did the English clubs do?

Bowdon Hightown failed to qualify for Round 2. Olton & West Warwicks knocked out in Round 2 by UHC Hamburg.

2011

Venues:

Round 1 & 2 - ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Last Four - HGC, The Hague.

Champions: ‘s-Hertogenbosch

Runner-up: Leicester

How did the English clubs do?

Very well! Both got through to the last four where Leicester qualified for the final by beating Slough in the semi. Leicester lost in the final but won silver. Slough were beaten by Larensche in the bronze medal match.

The EuroHockey League
The Story So Far

The governing body for hockey in Europe, the European Hockey Federation (EHF) started a tournament for men’s clubs in 1969. The first Club Champions Cup was played in Brussels and was won by Spanish side Egara. No English club took part, and in fact the first English participation was in 1973 when Hounslow came ninth. It was not until 1975 that England secured its first medal, which was a bronze won by Southgate. Southgate went on to win the Cup in 1976 and then again in 1977 and 1978.

The competition was primarily intended for the champions of each nations domestic league.

The number of participating clubs rose from eight to 12 by 1980. As a result, from 1981 onwards, the tournament was reduced to eight clubs with a second division tournament, known as the Club Champions Trophy being created. In 1994 a third division was created, the Club Champions Challenge, followed by fourth, the Club Champions Challenge II, in 2004. Movement between the divisions was as a result of promotion or relegation depending on the position of the competing nations at the end of each tournament.
The Club Champions Cup has traditionally been played over the Easter weekend. In 1990 a second tournament was introduced called the Cup Winners Cup, which was held over the Whitsun weekend. The name is slightly misleading, as very few European nations sent the winners of their domestic cup competitions (even if they had one) and it tended to be the club that had finished second in their domestic league. This tournament followed the lead of the Club Champions Cup with the introduction of lower divisions in 1991 and 1994.

Equivalent women’s tournaments were introduced in 1974 (Club Champions Cup) and 1990 (Cup Winners Cup).

The format was similar for all the tournaments*. Played over four days the competing teams would be arranged into two pools of four with the two top teams from each pool playing each other in the final. Teams finishing first or second in the lower divisions would usually win promotion for their nation in the next year’s tournament. The bottom two teams were usually relegated.

*This is only a brief summary and there have been variations. Where the lower divisions have less than eight teams the format and promotion arrangements may different.

Leandro Negre, who was at the time president of the European Hockey Federation, pulls out the name of Loughborough Students during the first draw in 2007.

By the turn of the 21st Century the formats were starting to look a bit tired. One criticism was that the senior divisions were for the eight top European nations rather than the eight top clubs, which sometimes resulted in some of the clubs taking part being seriously outclassed, particularly by clubs from The Netherlands, Germany and Spain.

In 2007 the EHF announced that it would be introducing a brand new clubs tournament. They took the rather radical step of going to an outside contractor to design and implement the new competition. The result was the EuroHockey League. The new league was to be radically different in many respects, with rule changes to accommodate the needs of television, stop time wasting and generally make the game more appealing to television viewers.

Unfortunately the new league was heavily dependent on sponsorship and interest centred primarily on men’s hockey. As a result, the EuroHockey League was for men’s hockey only. A cut down version of the EuroHockey League for women was introduced in 2010 but retained the tournament title of Club Champions Cup.

The new men’s tournament would consist of 24 of the best club sides in Europe. The number of clubs that each nation could send would be based on their record in the existing tournaments. The maximum that any nation could send would be three, but nations lower down the rankings would be limited to two or one. England was fortunate enough to be one of the four top nations and has managed to retain that position ever since, although it has been occasionally chased hard by Belgium. Some nations have not been so lucky. Scotland started out with two sides but currently has none (2011-2012 season).

The new format meant that instead of the tournament being decided over one long weekend, the league would be spread out over a year. Round 1 takes place in the Autumn and is played at two separate venue. The 24 teams are place into pools of three, with four pools being played a each venue. The team finishing bottom of each pool is eliminated from the league. The surviving 16 teams go on to play in Round 2.

Rounds 2 and 3 are played at the same venue over the Easter weekend. Because Round 2 is the start of the knock out phase of the league, and because there are 16 clubs left, the weekend is commonly referred to as the KO16. The KO16 weekend results in four clubs surviving. These four clubs go through to the semi-finals and finals, played over the Whitsun weekend.

The women got in on the act in 2010 when a new format for the Club Champions Cup was introduced. The format is broadly similar but, because only 12 clubs take part, Round 1 is not played until the Easter weekend. Round 2, the first knock out round is also played at Easter and all the matches are played at the same venue. The surviving four go on to play in the semi-finals and finals over the Whitsun weekend. In 2010 and 2011 the last four matches were played at the same venue as the last four of the EuroHockey League and this is expected to continue.

The EuroHockey League has proved to be a very successful competition which, despite the world wide financial recession, has continued to attract support from sponsors.

Round 1.1 Mulheim

EuroHockey League

Friday 7 Oct 2011