Poland return to the top division after a four-year break thanks to their second place finish in the EuroHockey Championship II in Paredes last time around.
Eight of that vintage are back once again to take on the challenge in Leuven this week.
They will be hoping to emulate the success of the turn of the century when they landed silver in 1999 and 2006 along with a 2001 bronze while their last Euros in Belgium in 2018 yielded a fourth place finish.
The side has a quartet of German based players with Maksymilian Koperski (Harvestehuder THC), captain Jacek Kurowski (TSV Mannheim), Jakub Chumeńczuk (Klipper THC) and Gracjan Jarzyński (DTV Hannover) looking to bring that know-how to bear in Leuven.
Robert Pawlak is among the rising stars having been the player of the tournament and top scorer at last year’s junior Europeans and has since helped his club AZS Politechnika Poznańska to the top of the Super Liga table this far.
They also have a cohort of players from the 2018 World Cup like Jakub Janicki and goalkeeper Mateusz Popiolkowski where they finished in seventh place.
First up for them is a rematch from the 2018 semi-finals when they were undone 7-3 by Belgium and so they will be looking to get up and running on the front foot.
** To find out more about the tournament and buy tickets, go to the event website here: https://ehic2024.be/
** The EuroHockey focus is on a massive February of indoor hockey with events taking place on four consecutive weekends.
For fans around the world, it means lots of top class action to enjoy on EuroHockeyTV with the following top level tournaments all broadcast live on a pay-per-view basis or with an already purchased EHTV pass.
