EuroHockey Championship II, Men
Ireland are hosting the Men’s EuroHockey Championship II at the National Sports Campus, Abbotstown from July 23-29.
Eight teams will compete, divided into two Pools consisting of four countries each.
The participating countries will be Czech Republic, Ukraine, Portugal and Ireland in Pool A
and Scotland, Italy, Turkiye and Switzerland in Pool B .
Details regarding tickets can be found on www.hockey.ie
Ireland, who are ranked 13th in the World are in Pool A and play their first game on Sunday July 23rd at 6pm against Czech Republic who are ranked 31st in the World.
Earlier in the day 30th ranked Ukraine take on 40th ranked Portugal at 3:45 p.m.
IRELAND FIXTURES: EuroHockey Championship II men (IRELAND 13TH WORLD RANKING)
Sunday July 23rd: IRELAND V CZECH REPUBLIC (31ST WORLD RANKING) 6:00pm
Tuesday July 25th: IRELAND V UKRAINE (30TH WORLD RANKING) 7:15pm
Wednesday July 26th IRELAND V PORTUGAL (40TH WORLD RANKING) 7:45pm
The current form line in 2023 sees Ireland with four wins and four losses from their eight outings so far this year.
- Ireland have played Spain (twice) and three game series with Wales and Austria, already in 2023.
- For the Czech Republic, they have one win, one draw and one loss from their three outings so far this year.
- Ukraine has a record of one loss from their only outing so far this year.
- Portugal have not played any international games thus far in 2023.
Historically Ireland has a 71% win rate against the Czech Republic and enjoy a 100% win rate against both Ukraine and Portugal in Men’s hockey.
QUALIFICATION FOR 2024 OLYMPICS IN PARIS
There are two potential spots for Ireland’s men from these Championships, which make a country eligible for the Olympic Qualifiers in January up for grabs.
However, as Great Britain participate in the Olympics (rather than England, Scotland or Wales), should Scotland finish in the top two, the third placed team would qualify for January’s Olympic qualifiers.
These qualifiers will be eight teams in two different locations Spain or Pakistan. Three teams from each qualification pool will qualify for the Olympics.
For the women, they will be playing in the top tier EuroHockey Championship in Germany next month. The teams playing in the competition will be Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, England, Scotland, Italy, and Ireland.
What is required here is a top six finish to make the January qualifiers. The winners will automatically qualify for the Olympics and England and Scotland will be represented by Great Britain, so unless Scotland win the tournament (which on current rankings is highly unlikely), Ireland are practically in those qualifiers next January in either Pakistan or Spain. A top three finish in those should see the women through to the Olympics in Paris.
THE TOURNAMENT ITSELF
The EuroHockey Championship II, Men gets underway on Sunday with a Pool B game between 26th World ranked Italy taking on Turkiye who are ranked 38th at 11:15am
The second game of the day in Pool B will see 20th World ranked Scotland take on 36th World ranked Switzerland at 1:30pm. This is followed by two Pool A games. Ukraine take on Portugal at 3.45pm and then Ireland play Czech Republic in their opening game at 6pm.
On Monday July 24th there are two games in Pool B with Switzerland taking on Turkiye at 3:15 p.m. followed by a second Pool B game between Italy and Scotland at 5:30pm
On Tuesday July 25th there are two games in Pool A with Czech Republic playing Portugal at 5pm followed by Ireland v Ukraine playing at 7.15pm
On Wednesday July 26th there will be two early games in Pool B. Scotland will take on Turkiye at 12.30pm and Switzerland will take on Italy at 2.45pm.
This will be followed up by a Pool A game at 5pm between Czech Republic and Ukraine, followed by Ireland v Portugal at 7:15pm.
On Friday July 28th the end of tournament positional play offs begin and semi-finals will take place.
On Saturday July 29th the gold medal match 3rd /4th place final and remaining play offs will take place.
As well as the EuroHockey Championship II for our Men’s National team taking place at The National Sports Campus, Abbotstown, there will be a host of other activities taking place during the week.
There will be a Fanzone with fun activities, hockey activities, with food and beverage concessions and merchandise available for sale.
In addition. there will also be an opportunity to see our women’s team in action as they have a number of friendly matches during the week.
Ireland Senior Women’s games.
Our women’s team continue their preparations for their EuroHockey Championship Tournament taking place in Monchengladbach, Germany from 18-27 August 2023 will be playing a series of warm up games against Italy and Chile and our senior women’s development team will also be in action against the same two countries as well.
WOMENS FIXTURES
Saturday 22nd July IRELAND V CHILE, 15:00 National Sports Campus, Abbotstown
Monday 24th July 20:00 ITALY V CHILE 20:00 National Sports Campus, Abbotstown
Tuesday 25th July IRELAND V CHILE 14:45 National Sports Campus, Abbotstown
Wednesday 26th July IRELAND DEVELOPMENT TEAM V ITALY 10:15 National Sports Campus, Abbotstown
Thursday 27th July IRELAND V CHILE 19:30 National Sports Campus, Abbotstown
Friday 28th July IRELAND DEVELOPMENT TEAM V ITALY 11:30 Three Rock Rovers Hockey Pitch, Grange Road.
Saturday 29th July IRELAND V ITALY 09:00 Three Rock Rovers Hockey Pitch, Grange Road