Spain are looking to continue their rapid rise back up the indoor ranks since their return to the boards in 2020.

They were ever-present in the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championships between 1980 and 2012 before they took a break from fielding teams internationally for eight years.

During that time, they were often contenders, picking up silver medals twice and finishing in the top four on six successive occasions between 1999 and 2010.

It meant they needed to return in the bottom division which they duly did in 2020, winning well in Santander in Championship III and they repeated the trick in 2022 in Paredes in the second division.

For this attempt, they feature a side full of medals from last weekend’s club events with six players from the Sanse Complutense side who won the Division of Honor Championship in Malaga.

In addition, goalkeeper Adrian Rafi was the hero in the German final for Mannheimer HC when he kept out a pair of shoot-outs to help deliver the Bundesliga title to the club.

In opposition last Sunday for TSV Mannheim was his Spanish compatriot Manuel Prol, showing their strong pedigree.

Prol and Rafi have been ever present members of the line-up along with Enrique Zorita and Ignacio Cobos on their return to the board.

** 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.