The women’s EuroHockey Championship II begins on Sunday in Gniezno with a number of the sides returning to Poland for the second time this summer, this time hoping to earn promotion to the top tier of European hockey in 2027.
In June, Walcz welcomed the FIH Nations Cup with Wales, Poland, Czechia and Italy all becoming acquainted with each other. This time, Pool A will have Austria and Croatia joining the hosts and the Italians while Pool B has Lithuania and Switzerland battling with the Welsh and Czechia.
After a round-robin group stage, the top two go to the semi-finals with the bottom two going into the Pool C ranking matches. The semi-final winners will both earn promotion as well as an FIH World Cup qualifier spot, something which is available for all of the top four finishers.
** Each match will be live-streamed free of charge on www.eurohockeytv.org for registered users of the site.
** To follow the live scores, go to: https://tms.fih.ch/competitions/1754
Pool A
Austria (World Ranking: 35)
Austria have stated their primary goal is a semi-final berth to assure themselves of, at least, a World Cup qualifier spot with a top two finish an extra bonus should they make it.
“Our preparation was short and intensive,” said head coach Christian Hoffmann. “Nevertheless, we have made great progress as a team. The players have grown closer together in the last few weeks – that makes me optimistic, also with regard to the future of this team.
“Of course, we know we’re facing tough opponents in Italy and Poland but we’re ready and excited for the first game.”
Elena Lendl in goal and Lisa Sailer in attack will make their team debuts. In addition to Lendl, Hoffmann has also called up Philippa Proksch from the U18 squad, who has just returned from the B European Championships in Glasgow. She was recently named the best player in Glasgow and will hopefully be able to recover quickly.
At the other end of the spectrum, the 36-year-old Kristine Vukovich returned to the panel in June for a series with France after a nine-year gap. She brings great experience from a couple of Indoor World Cups and also played in the Netherlands with Bloemendaal.
Last week, they split the difference in a final tune-up series with Czechia in Rakovnik, winning game one 4-3 and losing 2-1 in the next with Johanna Czech, Daria Buchta and Amelie Minar among the goalscorers.
Buchta and Marianne Pultar bring the relative experience as the only players over 25 in their youthful squad who have enjoyed good success indoors in the past few years at senior and Under-21 level.
Croatia (World Ranking: 64)
Croatia are playing at this level for the first time following five successive fourth place finishes in Championship III and so this is very much a step up for Bohdan Kovalenko and his team. The Ukranian will have a level of insight into Austria having played there last season with Post SV.
Their Under-18 side took silver last week at Championship III level and so they will look to carry some of that good feeling into this battle with Helena Buszjak, Korina Stoijić and Emily Dickel traversing the Under-18 and wider senior panel.
They are the low ranks in a tough pool with limited exposure to competitions at this level but, in preparation, they did pick up strong wins over Hungary. A year ago, they finished in sixth place in the qualifiers with losses to Wales and Lithuania.
Italy (World Ranking: 18)
Italy are going something of a transition phase as they drop down to the second tier for the first time since 2019 after back-to-back qualifications for the A division in 2021 and 2023.
They are the highest ranked team in competition but had a mixed performance at the Nations Cup II in Poland a month ago, ending in sixth spot after a shoot-out defeat to Czechia.
Their panel is spread across Europea with Sara Puglisi playing in the Hoofdklase with Oranje-Rood. Victoria Cabut (White Star), Sofia Laurito (Orée), Ilaria Sarnari (White Star), Justina Aspillaga (Royal Victory), Elettra Bormida and Maria Paz Lunghi (both Herakles), Teresa Dalla Vittoria (Mechelse THC), Guadalupe Moras (Racing Club de Bruxelles), Antonella Bruni (Wellington) and Candela Carosso (Indiana) are spread out across Belgium.
Federica Carta is now with Real Sociedad and she will be one of the vital engines to their team; she is one of three Spanish based players along with club mate Alin Oviedo and CD Terrassa’s Lola Brea.
Brea looks a strong addition, scoring four times in her first five international games at her debut tournament in Walcz. Carosso is the one change from the Nations Cup side, coming in place of Fabiola Francheschini.
Poland (World Ranking: 26)
Poland are looking to get back up to the top division for the first time since 2015 following an already incredible year in which they won the Indoor World Cup in Croatia. Outdoors, they finished in fourth place in the FIH Nations Cup 2 with impressive wins over Malaysia and South Africa, tempered by defeats to France and Wales (1-0) in June.
Krysztof Rachwalski has made five changes from that event in Walcz with Anna Gabara, Patrycja Kosińska, Karolina Diurczak and Viktoria Zimmermann coming in along with Under-18 captain Julia Rymer.
The panel is evenly split between home-based players and those plying their trade outside of Poland and is captained by Marlena Rybacha (DSD Düsseldorf). She brings huge knowledge along with Dutch-based Amelia Katerla as do Grossflottbeker THGC trio Marta Kucharska, Julia Balcerzak and Oliwia Krychniak who reached the Bundesliga Final4 in Germany.
Of the homegrown players, Gabara and Monika Chmiel both hail from national champions KS Hokej Start Brzeziny .
Pool B
Czechia (World Ranking: 27)
Czechia are another side looking to end a wait for a spot at the top table, their last of three previous appearances coming in 2017. Since then, they finished in second place in Championship II in Prague in 2023 behind France, ended third in the Euro qualifiers in 2024 in Glasgow – ending with a 4-3 win over Austria – and took Indoor World Cup bronze.
In June, they finished strong at the FIH Nations Cup 2, recovering from group losses to Italy, France and Wales without scoring to then beat higher-ranked South Africa and Italy for a fifth place finish.
The team is captained by Kateřina Laciná who helped Belgian club Braxgata win silver at the Euro Hockey League earlier this year while the large Slavia Prague contingent in the panel will also have EHL experience to draw upon.
Nikol Babická captained that historic team who became the first Czech women’s side to compete in the elite club competition where she was joined by Natalíe Hájková, Linda Nová and Natalí Nováková.
Their final build-up saw them play practice matches against Ireland – now coached by former Czech boss Gareth Grundie – and Austria.
“The matches with Ireland were an important part of our preparation,” said coach Tomas Prochazka. “We needed a strong opponent against whom the players could try playing under pressure and at high intensity – which Ireland clearly offered us. We tried various tactical variations and positional changes. Despite unfavorable results, these matches moved us a step further.”
Lithuania (World Ranking: 59)
Lithuania line out for their first international fixtures since last year’s Euro qualifiers in Glasgow where they were narrowly edged out by Austria 1-0 but did pick up a 3-0 win over Croatia to end in fifth spot. They finished in seventh place in the 2023 Championship II in Prague.
Switzerland (World Ranking 43)
Switzerland are competing in the second tier of European Championship hockey for just the second time having taken silver two years ago in the third division in Zagreb behind Türkiye. Their only other appearance at this level was back in 2011 in Poznan when they finished in seventh place.
As such, coach Jorge Nolte is excited about the challenge ahead. The Dutchman used to coach club side Klein Zwitserland (which translates as “little Switzerland” in English) but now has the “big Switzerland” role.
He says of the challenge: “We are deeply engaged in an intense and inspiring preparation phase with the Swiss national team. We’re looking forward to measuring ourselves against many strong teams and are truly enjoying every step of this journey. Our goal is to be at our very best when we start the EC in Poland.”
Captain Stephanie Weber adds: “With Jorge as our new head coach, there’s a fresh energy in the team — bold, hungry, and full of passion. We carry that spirit into every game. We’re not here just to take part. We’re here to show what we’re truly capable of.”
Sofie Stomps is one to watch, a key player who was part of the SV Kampong side who finished in fifth spot in the Hoofdklasse. She had the most caps with 42 while sisters Elena and Tamara Trösch and captain Weber are other important figures.
Wales (World Ranking: 25)
Wales are looking to build on their strong performances over the past 12 months having finished as runners-up in the Euro qualifiers last summer, only denied by Scotland in Glasgow, and this summer’s bronze at the Nations Cup 2 in Walcz where, they defeated Czechia and Poland.
Captain Beth Bingham is clear on where her side want to be at the end of the week: “We are tenacious, really resilient and everyone will feel our passion playing for Wales. We know where we want to finish, get to that final, gold medal and promotion to the A division. That’s our goal and it will only happen if we set that high standard ourselves.”
They travel to Poland for the second time this summer with the same squad, one which now has that extra tournament experience behind them. The Nations Cup was a debut tournament for the likes of Charlotte Atkinson, Ffion Horrell, Beth Peers and Katie Partridge.
Sarah Jones will be vital to their chances – the Olympian is closing in on 200 combined international caps between Wales and GB.
At the other end of the spectrum, youngsters Millie Holme and Rebecca Daniel have both been elevated to the wider Great Britain setup. Freya Diamond, Amy Cradden, Maisie Riley and Betsan Thomas were all part of the Welsh Under-21 side who qualified in 2024 for the Junior World Cup.
This will be their sixth successive time in Championship II, earning third place in 2023 in Prague.
