From 13 - 15 January the fifteenth European Indoor Field Hockey Championships with their slogan "Hockey is coming home" will be raising the roof of Arena Leipzig. For the second time since Eindhoven 2006 the men's and ladies’ tournaments will be taking place at the same time.

Europe's top eight men's and ladies’ teams will be competing against one another, with the German teams as the favourites. After all, both the German women's and men's teams are current world champions in indoor hockey and hold a record number of victories in past European championships. However, this is no automatic guarantee of victory, because Austria's men and Ukraine's ladies are determined to defend their European titles. Other strong competitors such as the Netherlands, Russia and Spain will also be fighting to come out on top.

In the opening game of the championships Ukraine's ladies will play Belarus on Friday, 13 January from 10 o’clock in the adjacent hall of Arena Leipzig. The German ladies’ team will play their first game against the Czech Republic in the main hall at 11:40 am on the same day. Germany's men take the field against defending champions Austria at 12:50 pm. A total of 10,000 spectators are expected to watch the European championships in Leipzig.

The City of Leipzig sponsors the European championships

The European Indoor Field Hockey Championships will be taking place with the sponsorship and support of the City of Leipzig. Arena Leipzig, the venue for the competition, is being made available free of charge to the organisers, Allgemeiner Turnverein Leipzig 1845 e. V., and the City of Leipzig is sponsoring the European championships with a donation of 200,000 euros.

Further details

The match schedule, a list of the teams and further information about the European championships are available at: www.eurohockey2012.de

When

13 to 15 January 2012

Where

Arena Leipzig

Am Sportforum 2

04105 Leipzig

Quell:PM