The EuroHockey Club Trophy II is an annual men's field hockey competition organised by the EHF for European hockey clubs. It was the second most prestigious European club competition, being one tier below the top men's European club competition the Euro Hockey League, until 2019. In that sense, the ECT was hockey's equivalent of the UEFA Europa League. In 2019, a new competition was created between the EuroHockey Club Trophy and the Euro Hockey League, called the EuroHockey Club Trophy I and the EuroHockey Club Trophy became the EuroHockey Club Trophy II.
Format
The tournament features 8 clubs from EHF member countries.
Qualification
Each year one of the 8 available league places is allocated to an EHF member country's national association. The clubs admitted are the clubs of those nations who finished ranked third to sixth in the previous year's Trophy II; the clubs of those two nations from the previous year's Trophy I; plus the clubs of those two nations promoted from the previous year's Challenge I.
Tournament summary
The teams are separated into 2 pools of 4 teams. In each pool the teams play one match against each of the other three teams in their pool. The teams then go on to play classification matches based on their relative ranking from these pool matches to determine their final tournament position.
Tournament details
In each pool, A, and B, all the teams play each other once, with points awarded as follows:
Above the EuroHockey Club Trophy II is the EuroHockey Club Trophy I, and below it is the EuroHockey Club Challenge 1, the EuroHockey Club Challenge 2, and so on. This structure is designed to give every EHF member nation the opportunity to enter their best clubs into European competition at an appropriate level, and through that exposure to improve the level of their domestic hockey.
Results
1981–1989
From 1981 until 1989, the tournament was held once a year and the finalists' countries were promoted to the EuroHockey Club Champions Cup.
1990–1993
From 1990 until 1993 the tournament was held twice a year and only the winner's countries were promoted to the EuroHockey Club Champions Cup.
1994–2002
Because of the introduction of the EuroHockey Club Challenge, the tournament went back to the old format from 1994 until 2002.
2003–2007
From 2003 until 2007 there was no final but instead, there were two promotion play-offs and the winners were ranked joint first and the winner's countries were promoted. The final ranking was decided based on their record in the pools.
2008–2019
In 2008 the tournament went back to its old format with a final but instead of two promotion places, the clubs scored points for their national association in the EHF 3-year rating, which sets the number of clubs in a nation for the European Cup competitions. Qualifying for the trophy were the runners-up of the countries in positions 9 to 12 and the champions of the countries in positions 13 to 16 in the EHF 3-year rating.
2020–present
In 2020, the EuroHockey Club Trophy was demoted as the third tier of European club hockey and renamed to EuroHockey Club Trophy II.
