2023 Qualification Tournament takes place in De Rijp (Netherlands)

IPCH is happy to announce that the 2023 – Qualification Tournament for the European Championship will be organized in De Rijp (The Netherlands) from 16 to 19 November 2023.

As announced by the Sport Executive Committee prior to the European Championship 2024 (EC 2024), there should, according to the rules, be a qualification tournament (QT) to determine which among the European Teams that are not automatically qualified for EC 2024 by WRL ranking, will get the 8th slot.

Since no nation presented a bid to host this tournament, the SEC decided to organize this QT to ensure that all nations can have a fair and equal chance to qualify for EC 2024.

As usual, IPCH SEC tried to contact all the European National Teams in development that could potentially be interested in joining the QT, and after a round call, 3 nations confirmed their interest in participating: Belgium, Czech Republic, and Slovenia.

Thanks to the good connections and the good collaboration with KNHB and the Dutch National Team Staff, the SEC managed to reach an agreement with De Rijp Eilanden in De Rijp and with the sports hall where the European Championship was played in 2016.

“We are extremely thrilled that we have managed to arrange the qualification tournament in De Rijp in The Netherlands. We look forward to watching an exciting battle for the 8th and final slot in the European Championship 2024 in Denmark. We know from previous experiences that the facilities to host an event like this are perfect in De Rijp, so we are confident that this will be a great event. – comments Danni Mogensen Vice Chairman and IPCH Development Officer – From a development perspective, these qualification tournaments are very important because they make it possible for countries that usually don’t participate in many international tournaments and championships to have the chance to compete against other countries at a somewhat equal level and with a lot at stake. These kinds of experiences are crucial for the continuing development of Powerchair Hockey in each of these countries because it gives the athletes the desire and the hunger for wanting to become better and better.”