With the majority of club seasons coming to a conclusion in the past few weeks, we take a look at how the national titles were decided in 11 countries with several more to be decided in the coming weeks.
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Croatia
HAHK Mladost (pictured above) did the Croatian double last weekend with the women’s side running up a 7-1 final win over HK Zelina with HK Marathon taking the bronze medal.
On the men’s side, Mladost closed out the title with a 5-2 success against HK Concordia 1906 with Dora Lagančič top scoring. The finals of the Croatian Cup will be played next weekend.
Gibraltar’s Grammarians
Gibraltar
Grammarians were crowned the Gibraltar men’s champions with an unbeaten spring series against Eagles, winning twice and then drawing their last two games to take the league.
On the women’s side, Europa retained their title as they only dropped two points from their nine games this term, leaving them eight points clear of nearest rivals Bavaria Hawks.
Netherlands
Pinoké won the Dutch men’s title for the very first time as they produced a brilliant late show against HC Bloemendaal in the two-legged final. Locked at 1-1 after the first leg and the first half of the second leg, Pinoké scored four times in the closing 30 minutes with Marlon Lanbrug netting twice for a famous victory.
AH&BC Amsterdam won their 21st crown with a final victory over SCHC via a shoot-out in the championship final. Both legs of the final were drawn in normal time with Amsterdam holding their nerve in the shoot-out 4-1 thanks to excellent shooting and goalkeeping from Anne Veenedaal.
Pinoké celebrate their success. Pic: Koen Suyk/WSP
Belgium
Gantoise did a Belgian championship double for the first time as the men won the title for the first since 1921 and the women came back to make it three titles in a row.
For the men, they built a 3-0 lead against Waterloo Ducks in the first leg on Saturday via Etienne Tynevez, Charles Masson and Guillaume Hellin. With the strong lead, they saw out the success a day later in a 2-2 draw
On the women’s side, KHC Dragons won the final first leg 2-1 against Gantoise. And that lead was augmented in the sixth minute of the second leg via an Abigail Raye penalty corner corner effort.
Gantoise’s comeback started with 20 minutes to go when Ambre Ballenghien was on the mark and then Berta Bonastre – in the final match of her career – equalised with two minutes to go.
It sent the game to a shoot-out with Ballenghien and Alix Gerniers scoring the vita efforts in a 2-1 success.
Gantoise taste double glory. Picture: Frank Uijlenbroek/World Sport Pics
Türkiye
Nizip Zeugma completed a memorable season as they took the Turkish men’s title ahead of Gaziantep Polisgücü a week before winning promotion at the EuroHockey Club Challenge II.
They won the playoff phase via a single point in the top six playoffs, sealing the dealy with a 4-3 win over the Alanya Stars.
On the women’s side, Gaziantep Polisgücü produced a perfect championship playoff series of five wins from five games to secure their title with Alanya Stars in second and Gaziantep Doruk in third place.
The Turkish women’s medalists
Portugal
Lisbon Casuals won a high-scoring women’s national final over GD Viso to claim the laurels. They won game one 5-3 and they stayed clear after the second leg with a 3-2 success. They went on to claim the double with a cup success to add to their European glory in late May.
AD Lousada produced a massive second leg turnaround to win the Portuguese men’s title after they lost the first leg 2-1 to Casa Pia AC. Indeed, it was locked at 3-3 on aggregate going into the second half but they soon ran riot, recording an 8-2 victory with six second half goals to win the title. They added the cup title in June to complete their double.
Lisbon Casuals
Czech Republic
TJ Plzen Litice won the Czech men’s championship via a shoot-out as they dethroned SK Slavia Prague to take the top European spot for 2023/24.
Adam Uhlíř flicked in a close range effort from the right baseline to give Litice the lead in the 20th minute and they held that lead until the closing seconds of the third quarter.
Martin Plachý got in behind the last defender to race through and equalise for Slavia. Dominik Bystřicky restored the Litice lead with just over five minutes to go from a clever two-pass corner move to the injector spot.
Martin Capouch, however, sent the game to a shoot-out when he struck first time from a pass through the middle of the circle to make it 2-2.
But Litice scored four of their five shoot-outs to put them out of sight of Slavia who missed twice from four.
TJ Plzen Litice
On the women’s side, Slavia picked up the title with a 4-0 win over TJ Plzen Litice. In the eighth minute, Veronika Nováková opened the scoring with a great deflection from a corner.
And the game was put to bed near the end of the third quarter when Natalia Hájková flicking home from a corner switch.
Michaela Kučerová added the third less than 100 seconds later with a close-range tip-in. Natálie Nováková completed the win in the last two minutes.
Spain
Junior FC won the Spanish women’s Iberdrola League for the first time as an amazing first quarter performance set them on course for a memorable 4-2 final win over Club de Campo de Madrid.
Berta Serrahima made it 1-0 and then Laia Vidosa set up Laura Bosch for the second. Alejandra Torres-Quevedo closed the gap from Blanca Pérez’s diagonal pass in the 12th minute but Junior soon added two more goals before the first break for a big 4-1 lead.
On the counter, María Gestí scored the third and, a minute later, Julia Strappato converted into the fourth.
It gave Campo a mountain to climb but they did get one back before half-time via Amparo Gil but they could not get by Jana Martinez again, allowing the Sant Cugat club to celebrate a famous success.
Club de Campo de Madrid’s men completed their perfect season as they added the MGS Spanish title to the Copa del Rey and the regular league title as three first half goals got them on their way in the final against Real Club de Polo.
José María Chefo Basterra was the star man over the weekend; he scored three times in the semi-final win over Club Egara and then got the first two in the final against Polo from corners. There, they built a 3-0 lead before ultimately winning 3-2.
Germany
Rot-Weiss Köln’s men completed a German hat trick as they came from behind to defeat Mannheimer HC 3-2. Christopher Rühr put Rot-Weiss in the eighth minute from Elian Mazkour’s assist. Mannheim roared back in the second quarter with Hugo von Montgelas’s sharp shot bouncing up off Vincent Vanasch where Justus Weigand rebounded.
Mannheimer HC celebrate in Germany. Picture: Frank Uijlenbroek/World Sport Pics
And it was 2-1 when Teo Hinrichs got a clean shot away in the 22nd minute to give Mannheim the lead. It remained that way into the 45th minute when a video review led to a stroke which Rühr stepped up to score.
That made for a grandstand finish with the tie ultimately settled with 11 minutes via Mink van der Weerden from a corner and they held on for a 3-2 victory.
For the women, Mannheimer HC finally got over the line as the runners-up from the past two seasons got the best of Club an der Alster via a shoot-out to become Germany’s women’s champions.
In a lively first half, Mannheim took the lead just before the big break when Lucina von der Heyde’s flat shot to the right post was guided in by Carolin Seidel for a 1-0 advantage.
Alster got an equaliser in strange circumstances via Katharina Haid but Mannheim held their nerve to win the shoot-out.
France
On the women’s side, Cambrai came back from a goal down to defeat Saint Germain in the women’s final.
Quitterie Le Naour put the Parisians in front from a corner but Cambrai bounced back with Alizee Isore and Agustina Ariza turning the game around for a 2-1 victory.
CA Montrouge won the French men’s title
CA Montrouge took the French men’s title to go with the regular season crown as they won a shoot-out against Racing Club de France.
It was a set piece battle with Montrouge taking the lead from a stroke from the season’s top scorer Louis Poupee before Racing levelled at half-time via Thomas Assoignon.
Christophe Peters-Deutz had RCF in front for the first time but a drag-flick from Poupee made it 2-2 at the final whistle.
Cambrai – French women’s winners
Malta
Qormi Daikin are the Maltese men’s champions closing out the title with an incredible 6-6 draw against GREE Sliema Hotsticks to clinch the title.
Qormi dominated the first quarter as they scored two goals following quick counter-attacks but in the second quarter, Sliema were better and scored three goals to keep to the pace of the game..
The third and fourth quarter continued to rotate between one team and another with Qormi controlling the Blues to get the title. Julian Zahra and Kyle Micallef scored a double each with Axel Cauchi and John Williams adding the goals for Qormi.
Sliema were always in the game as they scored their goals through a Christ Agius hat-trick, Christian Sammut, Keith Scicluna and Jonathan Borg but they could not deny Qormi a 15th title.
Elsewhere, the Floriana Young Stars won the cup 1-0 vs Qormi Daikin with Mark Camilleri getting the goal.
Qormi Daikin
