Thirty-two national associations came together for the 36th EuroHockey General Assembly at the Sheraton Hotel in Muscat, Oman on Thursday.
The assembly was run to coincide with the FIH Congress and brought together passionate hockey people to celebrate, assess and discuss the state of play around the continent.
EuroHockey President Marcos Hofmann addressed the meeting, delivering his annual report, highlighting the wealth of activities over the past 12 months since the previous meeting in Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach in August 2023.
Looking further back to 2023, it was a year marked by the end of an era with the conclusion of Marijke Fleuren’s transformational presidency.
Hofmann hailed her services and the subsequent successful navigation of the past 12 months.
For on the field matters, he paid tribute to the Dutch men and women’s national teams for shining on the biggest stage at the Olympic Games in Paris, leaving a lasting legacy at the Yves de Manoir stadium for French hockey.
The year also brought a lot of hockey with 38 international events organised by EuroHockey at 34 venues across the continent, appointing more than 400 officials with over 4,500 players competing taking part.
Developing the game further, the EuroHockey Institute held 31 in-person seminars which have benefitted 411 participants from 31 nations, covering coaching, officiating, athletes, governance, innovation and sustainability.
The EHL enjoyed a year of growth with record crowds. Off the field, EuroHockey purchased a 33.3% stake in the EHL from our long-time partner Southfields, raising its stake to 83% of the shares while Peter Elders became the body’s new chairman of the board. It was announced the women’s competition would grow from eight to 12 teams.
Financially, rising operational costs have created constraints but 2024 is projected to approach a break-even point, largely due to the additional resources generated from the increased majority stake in EHL.
Further initiatives are also in place to improve revenue streams, including partnerships with global sports asset management companies, efforts to reduce TV production costs, and a revised approach to fundraising for development initiatives.
Hofmann also provided an update from his election speech of the formation of a EuroHockey Foundation. This is going through the final stages of the decision-making process.
On the broadcast front, the EuroHockeyTV platform enjoyed a big year with over 500,000 views on this platform in 2023, an audience growth of over 200% from 2022 while broadcast deals saw the EuroHockey Championships brought to over three million viewers.
Hofmann concluded his report by acknowledging the dedication and hard work of the EuroHockey staff and the 101 panel and committee members whose actions “improve our federation and make us a stronger governing body for our members, athletes, officials, partners, and fans.”
Following the report, Levi van Havere presented the treasurer’s report and accounts for 2023 along with the budget for 2025, both of which were approved along with a new membership fee structure.
FIH election candidates Erik Cornelissen and Katrin Kauschke outlined their manifestos to the meeting ahead of a vote at the FIH Congress.
EuroHockey Head of Strategy and Development Tom Pedersen-Smith subsequently presented about the Operational Health of the federation, showcasing the operational wheel and how it can work for each member national association.
EuroHockey Director General Angus Kirkland presented an update on the EHTV+, the potentially ground-breaking digital ecosystem for club hockey in Europe which continues its development.
The meeting closed with EuroHockey Diploma of Merits presented to France’s Isabelle Jouin and England’s Royston Hoggarth in honour of their huge contribution to the sport in their countries and beyond.
