UHLENHORSTER 2007-2008
EUROHOCKEY LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!

German club Uhlenhorster are the first champions of the new EuroHockey League, beating Dutch club HGC 1-0 in the final in Rotterdam with a goal by Benjamin Kopp in extra time. Third place was won by Rotterdam after a penalty shoot out against Club Egara of Spain.  The match had finished 2-2 after extra time.  The previous day had provided two exciting and high scoring semi finals, with Uhlenhorster coming back from 2-0 down against Club Egara to win 5-2.  In the other semi, the all-Dutch meeting between HGC and Rotterdam was won by HGC 7-4.  

Final ranking: 1. Uhlenhorster (Germany), 2. HGC (Netherlands), 3. Rotterdam (Netherlands), 4 Club Egara (Spain).

The Draw for the 2008-2009 Season

POOLS A to D will play at Amsterdam over the weekend of 24-26 October 2008.

POOLS E to H will play at a venue to be arranged over the weekend of 31 October to 2 November 2008.

One team will be eliminated from each pool. Surviving teams go through to the knock-out stages (Round Two onwards)

Welcome to our EuroHockey League Page

The 2006-2007 season was the last season in which the old structure for European club competition was played - or at least it was for the men. (There are no plans to replace the women’s competitions at the present time.)  As of the 2007-2008 season we had the new EuroHockey League or, as it will be confusingly known for English supporters, the EHL.

So how does it work?  Each nation is ranked according to its performance in past European outdoor club competitions and a number of places in the new league allocated accordingly.  England has traditionally done well (Cannock and Reading have recently won silver in the old European Club Competitions and Cannock, Loughborough Students, and Reading progress through to the knock out rounds of the EuroHockey League last season) and so we are allocated three places, along with Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. The remaining twelve places will be divided between nine other nations.

Round One involves the twenty-four teams in eight pools of three. Each team plays the other two members of their pool once and the team finishing bottom of each pool is eliminated.

Rounds Two and Three are knock-out rounds and will take place over the Easter weekend. Round Two will see the sixteen survivors from Round One reduced to eight. Round Three will see the remaining eight further reduced to four.  

Rounds Four and Five are again knock-out rounds and will be played between the survivors of Round Three.  Round Four will be the semi-final round. Round Five consist of the finals and third/fourth place play-offs.  These rounds will be played at a single venue.

No - it’s not a directive from Brussels.  The European Hockey Federation has taken the bold step of tinkering with the rules of hockey to make the game more attractive to television and stop some of the time wasting that has become prevalent. Below is a summary of the rule changes - and do remember that these only apply to the EuroHockey League.

• Half time will be 7.5 minutes but there will also be two “time outs” one in each half after 17.5 minutes of play.

• A player who breaks the line early at a penalty corner may be banished to the halfway line.  Although he can be replaced by another player (but not a substitute from the bench), defending corners in now a specialist role in top-class hockey and the loss of a defender should discourage players from breaking early.

• The umpire will allow not less than 60 seconds from the time the penalty corner is awarded to the time the ball is injected. (This is to allow for TV replays).  This rule does not apply to the re-take of a penalty corner or the award of any second corner whilst the corner is in progress.

• A green card will now carry a two minute period of suspension.  For a second green card the period of suspension will be doubled.

• In Round Two onwards; in the event that the match finishes on a draw in normal time, the match will be decided by a silver goal in which the teams play five minutes of extra time.  If the teams are still level after the first period of extra time, a second five minute period of extra time will be played. In the event that the match remains drawn at the end of two periods of extra time, it will be decided by a one-on-one penalty shoot-out as described below.

• The one-on-one penalty shoot-out will take place in the event that the two teams remain level after silver goal extra time.  Each team will nominate three players to take part in the shoot-out.  The defending goalkeeper will start from his own goal line and the attacker from the 23 metre (25 yard) line.  The attacker will have eight seconds to score a goal. If the goalkeeper commits a foul, a goal is awarded.  If the attacker commits a foul or does not score within eight seconds, no goal is awarded.  If the teams are still equal after the first series of three, the shoot-out will then go to sudden death, using the same three players.

Images of some of the clubs taking part in 2008- 2009

< Belgium - Waterloo Ducks

Netherlands - Bloemendaal >

< Scotland - Azzurri Kelburne

< Spain - Atletic Terrassa

Enthusiastic home supporters at a second round match between Spain’s Club Egara and the Dutch club, Bloemendaal, during Easter 2008.