Men’s EuroHockey Club Challenge III 2025 – Oslo, Norway
Oslo will host its first ever EuroHockey outdoor club event as the newly laid water-based pitch in Mortensrud – which opened last September – welcomes the men’s Club Challenge III.
The tournament will feature seven teams in totals with Pool A having Finland’s HT 85, Malta’s Qormi Daikin and Lithuania’s Vilnius Žuvedra while Pool B has hosts MASK, Slovenia’s HK Lipovci, Sweden’s Valhalla and Finland’s Warriors.
Promotion is up for grabs for the top two finishers. Initially, there will be a round-robin group phase from which the top two of each will advance to one of two finals on Monday – the winners of those finals earn their country a spot in Challenge II for 2026.
** Click here to follow the live scores
Pool A
Hockey Team 85 (FIN)
HT 85 are making their return to European outdoor club action for the first time since 2005 when they finished seventh in Zagreb in Club Challenge I.
They started their outdoor season in the Hockey 5s tournament with an 8-3 win over Helsinki but lost 4-1 to HC Klippari and Warriors. Their 11-a-side championship begins after this Euro tournament.
HT-85 will look to the experience of Sampo Hirvioja who has been playing in European competitions for over a decade, scoring seven goals in 15 previous games for the club and he captained Klippari in 2022 (Türkiye) and 2023 (Gibraltar).
For his current team, it will be the first time any of the panel will have worn the HT-85 shirt at this level. Eight of the panel are making their Euro debuts while the remaining ones have lined out with either ABC, Seinâjoki or Kilppari.
Qormi Daikin (MLT)
Qormi Daikin come into the competition in red-hot having won both the Maltese league and KO Cup competitions this season, backing up their KO success in 2024 which earned them their ticket to this event.
It will be their 11th adventure in Europe since 2008 and they have recent gold medals in both 2022 and 2023 in Challenge III and a bronze in Challenge II in 2024.
Luke Bajada will be among the main men to look out for along with Zach de Goivanni and captain Steve Tanti while goalkeeper Shamison Mifsud has been a near ever-present over the past decade.
Vilnius Žuvedra (LTU)
The Lithuanian side come into the competition after a great boost last weekend, defeating title rivals Šiauliai Ginstrektė-Akademija with a 3-2 win to secure first place in the standings.
Player Emilis Schvolkas’ comment after the match: “This win gives us not only a great impetus but also a confidence for the upcoming European Championship, one of the most important stages of the season.
“Even bigger challenges, international competitors and the opportunity to show what we are capable of across Europe.”
It follows quickly on success in the Vilnius City Cup with the likes of Danielus Petkevič and Edvin Stakevic among the chief goalscorers.
Their recent EuroHockey club appearances have yielded a third place in Challenge II in 2022 and Challenge III in 2023.
Pool B
HK Lipovci (SLO)
HK Lipovci has been operating since 1965 and is the most successful national club in Slovenia with 28 national championships, 12 cup titles, 17 times indoor winners, seven times Interliga, 10 Slovenian Super Cup, two EuroHockey third tier titles, two Challenge II and Challenge III wins among other titles.
The side form a backbone of the Slovenian national team and have been preparing in their village Lipovci of around 1,000 people and almost every hockey player is from this village.
They have played in Interliga for the 2024/2025 season and have achieve second place among five teams from Slovenia, Hungary and Austria.
Mortensrud-Aker SK (NOR)
The Oslo hosts are looking forward to an historic week as their brand new pitch will welcome a EuroHockey event for the first time. To do it, the local community is crowd-funding to put stands in place and welcoming all to come along.
“Come to a game, volunteer, join the club. This is more than sports – it’s a community project for the entire district,” says Sonia Chaudry, CEO of MASK. “This is about creating something lasting for our kids.”
The majority of the panel have some experience of playing in this kind of event before with MASK playing in the 2022 Challenge III (ending 6th) and the 2023 Challenge II (ending 7th) most recently.
Included in their panel is also Baptiste Rogeau who played in several EHL campaigns with Saint Germain before relocating to Oslo.
Valhalla LHK (SWE)
The pace-setters in the Swedish league this season with five wins out of five, Valhalla are looking to use that momentum this week.
The club’s side for this event is a mixture of old and new with seven of the panel playing in 2023 in Gibraltar when they finished in seventh place in Challenge III with Anders Magnusson netting three times. The remainder of their panel will be making their debut on the European outdoor scene.
Captained by Kristian Yacoub, they are also bolstered by a mix of nationalities with Belgian, India, German, Ukraine and British elements.
Warriors HC (FIN)
The club was founded in 2014, and the men qualified for this event after winning the national championship for the first time in their history in 2023. They have since defended it and won again in 2024.
Key player is head coach and captain, Alex van Hooren. Since moving to the club in 2021, he has gone on to become the most prolific player in Finland in terms of goals and assists and is an essential part of our forward line.
“We are very proud that we achieved the first gold medal for the men’s team in the history of our club in 2023. We went on to winning the title back to back with our championship in 2024 and now we are ready to compete on the European stage!” van Hooren said of their participation.
In terms of the team history, the men’s team had been consistently the underdog, only coming fourth in 2019 and 2020. But for the 2021 season they gained Lennon White from Australia as new coach and his experienced, disciplined approach led to our first medal in 2022, taking the bronze.
He unfortunately moved back to Australia after that season, but then van Hooren stepped up to coach and led to our back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024. Their outdoor Finnish season begins when they return from Oslo.
