It's European Championship time for Italian hockey. From next Sunday until August 2nd, the senior men's and women's national teams will compete in the Eurohockey Championship II, Europe's second division. The men's teams will play in Lousada, Portugal, where they will debut with the Portuguese national team and then continue with matches against Ireland and the Czech Republic. The Italian team includes two players from Cagliari: Giaime Carta, captain of Amsicora, and his former teammate Davide Giuliani, who played in Belgium last season for THC Indiana. Carta was recently named the league's best player for the 2023-24 season.
The Italy women's team will play in Gnezno, Poland, where they will face Austria, Poland, and Croatia in that order. The official call-ups have not yet been announced, but the last training camp in Barcelona, which concluded last Friday, included the Azzurre's key player, Federica Carta from Cagliari, formerly of Amsicora and currently playing for Real Sociedad in Spain, Delfina Granatto and Agustina D'Ascola of Ferrini, and Agustina Fiorelli of Amsicora.
European Under 18 Championships
The European Under-18 Championships concluded on Saturday, with the Italian men competing in Championship II in Alanya, Turkey, where they earned promotion to Pool A, Europe's top division. The women's national team also competed in the tournament in Lille, France.
Among the Azzurri, still in the starting lineup, Francesco Atzori and Francesco Montalbano of Amsicora, protagonists of a successful European Championship that culminated in their qualification to the European Elite. The winning streak began with a 1-0 win over Ireland, followed by a 3-0 victory over Wales and a 7-0 victory over Turkey. In the final two matches, Atzori scored the second and fifth goals, respectively. In the semifinals, Switzerland were defeated 5-3, a victory that secured promotion. The final, where the Azzurri were defeated 6-1 by Ireland, proved irrelevant.
Roberto Carta's women's national team (three league titles on grass and indoor courts in the last two seasons at the helm of Amsicora) reached the Championship, facing the strongest European teams. They were defeated by England 12-0, the Netherlands 8-0, Germany 7-0, France 2-1, and Poland 6-1.