Euro Hockey League

Euro Hockey League
	Current season, competition or edition:; 2019–20 Euro Hockey League
Formerly	EuroHockey Club Champions Cup
Sport	Field hockey
Founded	2007
Inaugural season	2007–08
No. of teams	20
Confederation	EHF (Europe)
Most recent; champion(s)	Waterloo Ducks (1st title) ; (2018–19)
Most titles	UHC Hamburg; Bloemendaal (3 titles)
TV partner(s)	List of broadcasters
Related; competitions	EuroHockey Club Trophy
Official website	ehlhockey.tv

The Euro Hockey League is an annual men's field hockey cup competition organized by the EHF for the very top hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 hockey season when it merged and replaced the men's EuroHockey Club Champions Cup (the champions competition) and the EuroHockey Cup Winners Cup (the Cup Winners' competition). Featuring many of the world's best players, the EHL is now seen as the pinnacle of club hockey in Europe (hockey's equivalent of the UEFA Champions League) with top clubs from across the continent playing what many consider to be the most exciting and dynamic club hockey in the world.

The competition has been won by eight clubs, two of which have won it more than once.[1] Bloemendaal and UHC Hamburg are the most successful clubs in the tournament's history; having won it three times. The Waterloo Ducks are the reigning champions and became the first Belgian club to win the tournament.[2][3] Dutch clubs have the highest number of victories (6 wins), followed by Germany (5 wins).

Format

From the 2019–20 season onwards the tournament features 20 clubs from the 11 highest-ranked EHF member countries. Although the competition is called the Euro Hockey League, after round 1 the competition was a knock-out, rather than league format (similar to the UEFA Champions League in football). From the 2019–20 season onwards round one is also a knock-out format.

Qualification

From the 2019–20 season onwards each year the 20 available league places are allocated between 11 EHF member countries' National Associations, depending on those National Associations' EHF Club Ranking. National Associations ranked 1-3 in the EHL Ranking Table may enter three teams each in the Euro Hockey League, while National Associations ranked 4-6 may enter two teams each, and National Associations ranked 7-11 one team.

National Associations rankings are derived from each country's results in the Euro Hockey League and EuroHockey Club Trophy over the previous 3 years, with the points in the earlier years discounted by 50% (year 2) and 75% (year 1). This ranking of National Associations is based on the performance of all their clubs in the Euro Hockey League and EuroHockey Club Trophy. The total number of points won by clubs from each country is divided by the number of clubs to which the National Association was entitled in that year's competitions.

Each qualifying National Association is required to enter their national champion club but is otherwise free to decide the system of qualification for their own clubs for any remaining places to which they are entitled that year.

To be eligible to play in the Euro Hockey League a country must enter 2 clubs in the EHF club competitions.

Tournament

For the 2019–20 season the EHL moves to a new format with the removal of the round-robin tournament in round one.[4] Instead, a knock-out format will be used from the start of the tournament.[4] Round one will be replaced by the knockout 16 with four sides advancing to the quarter-finals, or Final 8 as it's called, on Easter.[4] The Final8 will consist of the champions from the top four nations on the EHL rankings table alongside the four sides that qualified from the knockout 16.[4] This means that instead of a total of 24 teams from 12 associations there will be 20 teams from 11 associations.[4]

Sponsorship

The much-improved presentation and packaging of the Euro Hockey League have attracted a number of high-profile sponsors, most notably Dutch bank ABN-AMRO, who are the presenting sponsor of the tournament. Volvo and Intersport are also named sponsors of the Euro Hockey League, while partnerships have been formed with McGregor, ErmaSport, ATP - The Advanced Travel Partner and Dutch advertising agency Ideas for Brands.

Summaries

Season	Host	Final			Third place match
Season	Host	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third place	Score	Fourth place
2007–08 Details	Rotterdam, Netherlands	UHC Hamburg	1–0 (a.e.t.)	HGC	Rotterdam	2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–1 p.s.)	Club Egara
2008–09 Details	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Bloemendaal	5–4	UHC Hamburg	Rotterdam	8–1	Leuven
2009–10 Details	Amstelveen, Netherlands	UHC Hamburg	3–1	Rotterdam	Amsterdam	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Real Club de Polo
2010–11 Details	Wassenaar, Netherlands	HGC	1–0	Club de Campo	Reading	3–2	Oranje Zwart
2011–12 Details	Amstelveen, Netherlands	UHC Hamburg	2–2 (a.e.t.) (2–1 s.o.)	Amsterdam	Dragons	4–3 (a.e.t.)	Rotterdam
2012–13 Details	Bloemendaal, Netherlands	Bloemendaal	2–0	Dragons	Amsterdam	5–3	Rot-Weiss Köln
2013–14 Details	Eindhoven, Netherlands	Harvestehude	2–2 (3–1 s.o.)	Oranje Zwart	Dragons	2–1	Racing Club de Bruxelles
2014–15 Details	Bloemendaal, Netherlands	Oranje Zwart	1–1 (6–5 s.o.)	UHC Hamburg	Bloemendaal	1–0	Daring
2015–16 Details	Barcelona, Spain	Kampong	2–0	Amsterdam	Harvestehude	3–2	Atlètic Terrassa
2016–17 Details	Brasschaat, Belgium	Rot-Weiss Köln	3–2	Oranje-Rood	Dragons	3–1	Wimbledon
2017–18 Details	Bloemendaal, Netherlands	Bloemendaal	8–2	Kampong	Rotterdam	5–4	Herakles
2018–19 Details	Eindhoven, Netherlands	Waterloo Ducks	4–0	Rot-Weiss Köln	Mannheimer HC	3–1	Real Club de Polo
2019–20 Details	Amstelveen, Netherlands

Records and statistics

Medal table by club
Rank	Club	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	UHC Hamburg	3	2	0	5
2	Bloemendaal	3	0	1	4
3	HGC	1	1	0	2
	Kampong	1	1	0	2
	Oranje Zwart	1	1	0	2
	Rot-Weiss Köln	1	1	0	2
7	Harvestehude	1	0	1	2
8	Waterloo Ducks	1	0	0	1
9	Amsterdam	0	2	2	4
10	Dragons	0	1	3	4
10	Rotterdam	0	1	3	4
12	Club de Campo	0	1	0	1
12	Oranje-Rood	0	1	0	1
14	Mannheimer HC	0	0	1	1
14	Reading	0	0	1	1
Totals (15 clubs)		12	12	12	36

Medal table by nation
Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Netherlands (NED)	6	7	6	19
2	Germany (GER)	5	3	2	10
3	Belgium (BEL)	1	1	3	5
4	Spain (ESP)	0	1	0	1
5	England (ENG)	0	0	1	1
Totals (5 nations)		12	12	12	36

Lower tournaments

The Euro Hockey League is the top men's club competition in Europe. Below the Euro Hockey League is the EuroHockey Club Trophy, then below that the EuroHockey Club Challenge 1, the EuroHockey Club Challenge 2, and so on. This structure is designed to give every EHF member nation the opportunity to enter their best clubs into European competition at an appropriate level, and through that exposure to improve the level of their domestic hockey.

References

"Competitions Archive". eurohockey.org. European Hockey Federation. pp. 28–40. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
"Waterloo Ducks winnen Euro Hockey League na 4-0-winst tegen Köln". www.hln.be (in Dutch). Het Laatste Nieuws. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
"Waterloo Ducks in EHL heaven with remarkable 4-0 grand final success in Eindhoven". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
"Ehl Men Set for New Knock-out Format in 2019/20 Season". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

External links

Official website

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[1] "Competitions Archive". eurohockey.org. European Hockey Federation. pp. 28–40. Retrieved 23 April 2019.

[2] "Waterloo Ducks winnen Euro Hockey League na 4-0-winst tegen Köln". www.hln.be (in Dutch). Het Laatste Nieuws. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.

[3] "Waterloo Ducks in EHL heaven with remarkable 4-0 grand final success in Eindhoven". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. 22 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.

[new_format-4] "Ehl Men Set for New Knock-out Format in 2019/20 Season". ehlhockey.tv. Euro Hockey League. Retrieved 11 June 2019.