The German hockey men started their mission to defend their title at the European Indoor Championships with success. The team coached by Matthias Witthaus and Jan Philipp Rabente beat Ireland 7:3 (3:2) at the start in Heidelberg on Thursday.
Triple goal scorer Luca Großmann (10th/11th/35th), Nicolas Proske (14th), Tom Schmidt-Didlaukies (24th), Anton Pöhling (37th) and Sten Brandenstein (40th) scored the goals for the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB), which is aiming for its 18th European Championship gold in the hall in front of a home crowd. In Group B, the record European champions will face Switzerland (2 p.m.) and Belgium (8:15 p.m./both MagentaSport) on Friday. On Saturday the preliminary round ends against Spain.
The two best teams in each of the two groups of five qualify for the semi-finals, the other teams play for the remaining places. Germany is considered one of the big favorites at the tournament. The DHB team won the last edition in Belgium in 2024, and in February 2025 the team of Witthaus and Rabente were also crowned indoor world champions.