EuroHockey Championships-Newsletter
This is the women's group B
20. February 2023
Group B: Germany, England, Ireland and Scotland. Three nations from the island await our Danas in the group phase of the Eurohockey Championships 2023. According to the world ranking, the team of national coach Valentin Altenburg is the favourite in the group. Can Germany do justice to this role?
Germany (Danas)
Second at the European Championships, fourth at the World Championships and sixth at the Olympic Games. This is how the last three major tournaments ended for the Danas. The development of national coach Valentin Altenburg's team has been positive since the 2022 World Cup in the Netherlands and Spain. The national coach repeatedly mentions that the team has to develop into a "tournament team". The 2022 World Cup was a first step in the right direction, even if the German women missed out on a medal in the end. The European Championship in their own country will therefore be the opportunity to show Hockey Europe and the hockey world that they have developed into a "tournament team".
England
The English women's national team has already won the European Championship title twice. After losing to Germany in the 2013 European final, the English women were able to repeat their 1991 success in 2015. In their own country, in London, they defeated the Dutch in the final in a thrilling penalty shootout. Since then, the national team has been denied a major success. Places three, four and five at the following European Championships and places eleven, seven and eight at the last three World Championships are on the record. The Eurohockey Championships 2023 in Mönchengladbach offer England the chance to return to the big stage of international hockey.
Ireland
After missing out on qualification for the European Championships in 2015, the Irish women's national team subsequently improved significantly. Two sixth-place and a fifth-place finish at the 2017, 2019 and 2021 European Championships were three reasonable results from an Irish perspective. In 2016, Ireland still failed to qualify for the Olympic Games but achieved a solid tenth place in Tokyo 2021. The biggest success in the association's history came in 2018 at the World Cup in London. Although they lost significantly 6-0 to the Netherlands in the final, they ensured that India and Spain were knocked out of the World Cup beforehand. Ireland's biggest goal at the Eurohockey Championships 2023 in Mönchengladbach will be to reach the knockout stage. The duels with the other nations from Great Britain will be decisive for this.
Scotland
The Scots are the outsiders in Group B. Their best European Championship result was fifth place in 1991. Since 2013, Scotland have participated in every European Championship, but have never finished higher than sixth place. The women from the island last took part in a World Cup in 2002 and are currently 17th in the world rankings. Scotland have nothing to lose at the 2023 Eurohockey Championships in Mönchengladbach, but the nation has been waiting a long time to finally make their mark on the international hockey stage.
