It’s EHL week as the world’s best club competition back for a 20th season with men’s ROUND1 hitting the turf at HC Oranje-Rood in Eindhoven from Friday, October 9th to Sunday, October 11th.
For this edition, the competition returns to a group format with four groups of three teams with only one from each advancing to next Easter’s FINAL12.
Pool B sees 2017 champions Rot-Weiss Köln return to the competition after a brief hiatus, Belgium’s Royal Orée make their debut while Czechia’s Slavia Prague are back for a third EHL Men’s appearance.
Find out more about their teams here:
Pool B – Meet the teams
KHTC Rot-Weiss Köln (GER)
- Qualified as Second in German Bundesliga
- 15th EHL appearance
- Best finish: Winners (2016/17)
- Current league form: 2nd place – four wins, one draw
The 2017 champions are back for a 15th season in the EHL after a two-year hiatus, keen to keep up their proud record in the competition which includes four GRAND FINAL appearances.
Once again, Rot-Weiss have a star-studded panel and they provided a large portion of the side to Germany’s World Cup panel including Michel Struthoff who scored the winning goal in the final in Wavre.
He was among eight players connected to the club involved along with Christopher Rühr (player of the match in the final), goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg and captain Tom Grambusch.
New signings Hugo von Montgelas (from Mannheimer HC) and Jakob Brilla (TSV Mannheim) were also part of the panel while Justus Warweg (nominated as the tournament’s rising star) and Antheus Barry grew up at the club.
The international influence extended to coach Pascha Gademan who assisted André Henning and doctor Philip Ibe who traverses both Rot-Weiss and the German men’s medical teams.
Under-21 international captain Paul Glander and Paul Babic won silver at their Euros in the summer. Rot-Weiss qualified for this year’s EHL as the Bundesliga’s regular season runners-up.
Find out more here: https://ehlhockey.tv/team/kthc-rot-weiss-koln/
Royal Orée (BEL)
- Qualified as 3rd place in Belgium
- 1st EHL appearance
- Current league form: 8th place – one win, two draws, one loss
Royal Orée take on the EHL challenge for the first time having won the Belgian third place playoff over Gantoise last season.
They arrive in Eindhoven, though, with a much changed panel from the one that got them to this stage with six players coming and seven departing over the summer.
On the arrivals front, Guerlain Hawaux was one of the Belgian stars at the EuroHockey Under-21 Championship in Valencia during the summer. He comes in from Beerschot while they are also bolstered by Larry Fauchey, Edouard Cambier, Raoul Thibaut de Maisières and Pierre De Gratie from Pingouin.
French international Victor Saint-Martin – a Junior World Cup finalist in 2023 – also links up with the club after a spell with White Star.
They will have the task of stepping into the shoes of the likes of Vincent Vanasch (Royal Léopold), Lautaro Domene (Waterloo Ducks), Hugo Labouchère (Pinoké) and Dorian Thiéry (Racing Club de Bruxelles) as well as retired club heroes Luca Masso and Phil Simar.
As such, the experience of Argentina internationals Lucio Mendez Pin, Matias Andreotti and Tadeo Marcucci will be vital along with French Olympians Amaury Bellenger and Charles Masson (an EHL winner with Gantoise) and Swiss talisman Loris Grandchamp.
This will be their first Euro Hockey League campaign but they have appeared in Europe a a couple of times before, namely in the EuroHockey Cup Winners Cup in 1998 and the Cup Winners Trophy in 1995 and 1999.
Find out more here: https://ehlhockey.tv/team/royal-oree-hc/
SK Slavia Prague (CZE)
- Qualfied as Czechia champions
- 3rd EHL appearance
- Best finish: 17th place (2022/23, 2025/26)
- Current league form: 2nd place – four wins, one loss
Slavia will travel to Eindhoven with a side lighter on experience from previous years following the departures around the world of a number of key players.
František Toms joined Namur in the Belgian top division where he is playing alongside his brother Josef Toms, also a former Slavia player. Martin Plachý moved to Mönchengladbach in the second Bundesliga while goalkeeper František Svoboda has gone to the Netherlands.
Marek Zgraja, meanwhile, has paused his playing career to move to New Yory and the hugely experienced David Vacek has stepped back to the second team.
Their departures gives opportunity to young players from their junior section with Viktor Dušek and Jan Brandejs starting training with the first team and have already featured in some games.
The 24-year-old Patrik Dubina – a regular international for five years now – is one of the key figures along with Martin Capouch and Jan Brzák. Beyond them, Štěpán Šmíd is one of Slavia’s rising talents.
Dutch coach and ex-Hoofdklaase player Gino Schilders has returned to the team to assist head coach Miroslav Ludvík.
Find out more here: https://ehlhockey.tv/team/sk-slavia-prague-5/
Be the first to comment on "EHL: EHL Men ROUND1 – Meet the Pool B teams – EHL"