Belgium, England and Spain face Scotland in EuroHockey finals group

Edinburgh-based Duncan, Scotland’s women’s head hockey coach, has a year to prepare to face Belgium, England and Spain in Pool B in the German city of Monchengladbach.

His squad recently qualified by beating Wales 2-1 in the final and Austria 1-0 in a play-off in Glasgow to make the final and move forward to the prestige event.

The full 40-game game schedule will be revealed soon, but the championships are over ten days from August 8 to 17 at the HockeyPark which is next to the 54,057-capacity, Borussia Monchengladbach football stadium.

Scotland celebrate after Heather McEwan scores the winner v Wales in the play-off final in Glasgow.

Packed crowds witnessed the last event in the 9,000-capacity stadium a year ago at the same venue which will be hosting the competition for the third time with The Netherlands winning the gold medal 12 months ago. Scotland finished seventh.

Early bird tickets are available, including ten-day passes, and hosts Germany, rated No 4 in the world, will face the champions, The Netherlands, currently No 1 in the rankings, in Pool A. This is the first time they have clashed in the group stages since 1991.

Ireland, No 12 in the world, and France, rated No 19, make up the four-strong pool and the French have qualified for the elite event for the first time since 2005.

In Pool B, Olympic semi-finalists, Belgium, the third best team currently in the world, go in against England, ranked No 7 in the world, and Spain, who are eighth and were beaten by Scotland, ranked No 16, at Monchengladbach last year.

Duncan said that he was pleased with the draw which keeps Scotland away from The Netherlands and Germany, but he added: “We will face Belgium, currently the third best team in the world and one of the sides which is developing rapidly.

“Every single game in this competition is hard. We have played and beaten Spain, but that was tough, we also play our close neighbours, England. Some of our girls have been in and around the England programme when they have been training with Great Britain so they know the calibre of their players.

“One of our players, Heather McEwan, plays club hockey in Belgium so that will give us some insight, and Spain will be difficult. Beating them last year gives the game a different dimension.”

Of course, Scotland are part-time and they are going in against professional players, but Duncan said: “One year may seem a long way away, but it gives us almost 12 months to prepare and work a programme so we can compete.

“We go into every game trying to win, and winning in Germany will be tough, but we are a much better side for the experience we had last year in Germany and from our development this year."