The hockey players of Den Bosch have won the Euro Hockey League for the second time in three years. Just like in 2021, the Spanish Club de Campo de Madrid was defeated. Then it became 5-0, Easter Monday in Amstelveen, the team of coach Marieke Dijkstra booked an apparently narrow 1-0 victory.
Frédérique Matla scored the only goal at the start of the fourth and last quarter. The attack leader, who was also invaluable in the semi-final against Düsseldorfer HC, scored after Pien Sanders had just kept the ball in. The video reference still looked at the validity of the goal, but gave it his blessing.
Last year HC Den Bosch was also in the final, which was after shootouts lost to archrival Amsterdam. The Bossche formation played its 23rd European final in 24 years on Monday. She became Europe’s best for the eighteenth time.
Also a chance for a national title
HC Den Bosch also has a chance to win the national title, although this season is less force majeure than the club and its fans are used to. Yet Club de Campo hardly came into play, the difference in strength was too great for that. Matla acknowledged that her team had missed too many opportunities. “We created enough, but did not finish it. The audience is the big winner because it remained exciting for a long time,” said 26-year-old Bossche at NOS.
She attributes the lack of sharpness to the course of the tournament. Den Bosch had against SCHC in the quarterfinals on Friday shootouts needed to reach the next round. Matla: “That was the most exciting match and should have been the final. That is why the discharge is perhaps just a little less. We were confident that we would finish it, if necessary in the last quarter.”