Austria’s Red Foxes will end a 40-year wait for a place in the women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship this weekend when they hit the turf in Terrassa.
Their last appearance on this stage was all the way back in 1984 in Dundee when they finished in eighth place but their victory in Vienna in 2022 in Championship II has helped them rise back up the ranks.
It continues a general feel-good mood among Austrian sides with their senior women’s indoor side taking World Cup silver and their Under-21 indoor side are the reigning European indoor champions.
And this side overlaps with those teams to a certain extent. Katharina Bauer and Katharina Proksch both played in the indoor World Cup success while goalkeeper Corina Stedronsky, Amelie Minar and Hannah Szladits were in the Euro line-up.
On top of that, Franziska Frey – whose brother Moritz plays with the national men’s team – joined that quintet to play in the 2022 Junior World Cup, also in South Africa.
Like many Austrian teams, family connections run deep. Sister Tara and Maja Moser are in the panel; Proksch’s younger sister Philippa is also in the line-up – both their parents played for Austria in the past while Minar’s father did likewise.
Seven of the panel were part of the AHTC club side that won the Austrian club championship less than a month ago and played in the Euro Club Trophy II in Alanya in May.
SV Arminen’s Louisa Pelz and HC Wien’s Elena Lendel are among the youngest players in the competition; both played in the EuroHockey U16 5s event last week.
As part of their preparations, they have recently returned from a trip to SV Kampong where they took on the Netherlands’ Under-18 side in a couple of test matches.
Best performances: 4th place (1977, 1978)
