The 2024 Spengler Cup is history - with a sold-out stadium for all eleven games. No wonder, as OC President Marc Gianola only talks about details that can be improved.
01.01.2025, 14:50
01.01.2025, 15:04
SDA
On New Year's Eve, OC President Marc Gianola traditionally summed up the 2024 edition of the Spengler Cup in Davos. Here's what the former HCD defender and Swiss international had to say about the most important topics.
Gianola's conclusion
"We've seen incredibly good sport two years in a row. That's the basis of the whole thing. (...) We've set up a lot of things for the women and the youngsters and have been able to present them very well in the beautiful field hockey window that exists here. (...) You can see that the teams really want to win the Spengler Cup. On the other hand, of course, we want the teams to go back to their everyday lives in good health. And there have been a few scenes where the level of harshness has been borderline. But the teams are happy, you don't hear much about it. They're in their rhythm, in their element. That suits them."
Room for improvement
"The Spengler Cup is played at a very high level. But that was already the case when I took over. You could still turn one or two screws. We were able to renovate the stadium and build a training hall for the sport. We built a new VIP building that is unique in the event business. And we will again find screws that we can turn to keep developing the Spengler Cup, as they have done before us in its 101-year history."
Surprises
"I was actually surprised that the sporting level was so even that no team fell behind. And Straubing's sporting history is of course sensational. If you come there, lose the first two games and then knock out all the title favorites, that's obviously a brilliant thing."
The field of participants next year
"As finalists, Fribourg-Gottéron will of course get another invitation. If they accept it, the second Swiss participant will be seeded. But they told us in advance that they'll be very absorbed with the World Championship next year and that it might not work out then. Maybe things will look different now. We will certainly have a team from Finland, Canada, Davos and a second Swiss team. Then you have to find a team in the Czech Republic, there are a lot of applications."
A possible Swedish team
"Yes, in Sweden we still have to come to an agreement with the league and have a corresponding agreement. It's still a bit of a process in Sweden, we don't know yet."
The challenges for Team Canada when there are fewer and fewer Canadian players in Switzerland
"We also had the impression that this could be a problem for them, but then we were proven wrong by the fact that they were able to organize themselves without the need for players from Europe. And if that continues, then it's not in danger. In any case, it would be difficult to end a 40-year history."
Three Swiss winners in a row
"This shows that Swiss field hockey is extremely strong. Last year, we also won the Champions Hockey League and reached the final of the World Cup. Even if you look back 30 years, we were a distant second. That shows that we've made a lot of progress at club field hockey level. I always like to bring up the example of when we lost 1:10 to the then world champions Finland in December 1995. If we lose 1-2 in the European field hockey league now, we're disappointed."
