The European Hockey Federation (EHF) event will be hosted by England Hockey at the new Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on 21 – 30 August 2015.

England Hockey has just staged its first event at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, bringing back memories of the London 2012 Olympics. The EuroHockey Championships features the top 8 women’s and top 8 men’s teams in Europe, and as such, EuroHockey 2015 promises to be the perfect place to watch some truly world-class sport in a family friendly environment.

The event’s website is now live – www.eurohockey2015.co.uk – where tickets can be purchased, and which features information on the tournament and its participating teams. EuroHockey 2015 also has its own facebook and Twitter pages. Tickets for the Semi-Finals, Finals and significant England fixtures are expected to sell quickly. Like the Olympics, tickets are available in sessions, allowing spectators to pick and choose their games. In line with the family focus of the event, children’s tickets are available from £1.

The event starts with England’s men playing a Friday evening match, and concludes with the women’s Final, which is a point of difference to most tournaments which conclude with men’s fixtures, demonstrating the equal footing of both genders in hockey. The tournament also has the added significance of being a qualifier event for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

EHF President Marijke Fleuren commented: “When we set out our strategic plans for the EuroHockey Championships, the EHF put a player’s tournament at the core of what we want to achieve from these Championships, as well as giving fans a great experience.

“Starting with the men’s games on the Friday evening creates an extra opportunity for fans to come to the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, and in addition this gives us the opportunity to finish with the Women’s Final, showing that hockey is a sport that reveres its female and male athletes equally. I am very much looking forward to meeting the hockey family from all over Europe back in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.”

National pride will be one of the main themes for the Championships, and the core values of the EuroHockey 2015 event fit very well with the values that England Hockey focuses on for its events and the sport in general – a strong sense of national pride, a family offering, a focus on entertainment on and off the pitch, and a welcoming atmosphere forvisiting fans and teams alike.

England Hockey Chief Executive Sally Munday added: “Hosting the EuroHockey Championhips in 2015 in London is a very exciting prospect, and having just hosted a brilliant first tournament at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, we’re confident we can deliver a fantastic spectator experience, as we do at all our events. We’re very much looking forward to rallying the English public to get behind their teams in what will be a big summer for sport in this country”

ParaHockey and Masters tournaments will also run alongside the main tournament, as The European Hockey Federation is committed to these important and growing areas of hockey.

Shaun Dawson, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority Chief Executive said: “We’re excited to be welcoming Europe’s best hockey players to this country’s best hockey venue next summer for the 2015 EuroHockey Championships. Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre is unique in that hockey players of all abilities can play on the same distinctive world class pitches which the International stars will be competing on during this tournament.

“We have already had some great feedback from players and supporters involved in the recent Investec London Cup, the first major event to be held at the venue. I have no doubt that the EuroHockey Championships will recapture the magic of 2012 and will help to inspire the next generation to play hockey.”

EuroHockey Championships London 2015 facts:

Men’s teams: GER, BEL, NED, ENG, ESP, IRE, RUS, FRA

Women’s teams: GER, ENG, NED, BEL, ESP, SCO, ITA, POL

Website:
www.eurohockey2015.co.uk

Social media:
www.facebook.com/EuroHockey2015
www.twitter.com/EuroHockey2015

Article kindly taken from England Hockey