Europa Cup 2014
How do you find the best korfball team in Europe? Answer: The European Cup which is also more commonly known as the Europa Cup. Over the last four days (15 – 18 January) the national champions of twelve European countries done battle in the superb korfball arena at Papendrecht Korfball Club in the Netherlands.
The final match has finished and we now know the identity of the new champions of Europe; PKC/Hagero from the Netherlands. PKC/Hagero defeated the national champions of Belgium, Boeckenberg 31-27 in a thrilling final watched by over 1,700 spectators.
Trojans Korfball Club, six-time consecutive champions of England finished the tournament in sixth position after losing 18-24 in the 5/6th play-off against SG Pegasus from Germany. The youngest of the three Brooks brothers, Sam, top scored for Trojans in the play-off match with five goals.
Trojans started the tournament in fine form with a 37-4 victory over Edinburgh City Korfball Club, the champions of Scotland who were playing in their first Europa Cup finals.
Disappointingly the second match for Trojans finished in defeat 8-15 against NC Benfica of Portugal.
Speaking to England Korfball after the match Trojans coach Gary Brooks said: “we shot and rebounded so poorly. We have to improve significantly in these areas in the next match. The team are very focused on putting that right.
Trojans third match was against Barcelona Korfball Club. The in game of the tournament up until that point Trojans won 24-23 with Kathryn Goodridge scoring the winning goal with only seconds remaining on the clock. “Better shooting (24% conversion ratio) and rebounding gave us the chance to win today” said coach Brooks after the match.
David Brooks and Sam Brooks both scored seven goals each in the win against Barcelona.
England Korfball league referee Steve Jones was once again involved in another final, this year being appointed as the Assistant Referee. There was also an Englishman on the jury; Steve Wright.
Statistics and full length videos of all the matches at the 2014 Europa Cup can be found on www.worldkorfball.org.