** To buy tickets to see Rot-Weiss Köln in action in the EHL FINAL8, click here

Dutch international Mink van der Weerden will play for Rot-Weiss Köln next season, switching from Oranje-Rood where he spent 12 hugely successful years in the Hoofdklasse.

He was part of the Dutch team that won the silver medal at the 2012 OIympic Games, top scoring in the tournament and he also won silver at the 2018 World Cup while taking gold at the European Championships in 2015 and 2017.

With Oranje-Rood, the 31-year-old corner expert won the Dutch club title three times in a row between 2014 and 2016 and also landed the Euro Hockey League in 2015 – under the guise of Oranje Zwart. He currently has 169 caps for the national team, scoring 110 goals.

“I am very excited to take on this adventure with Rot-Weiss,” van der Weerden said. “I always wanted to play in the Bundesliga one day and now I get the chance to do so for Rot-Weiss, one of Germany’s most famous clubs with a successful history. 

“I hope I can contribute to this in the next couple of years. The opportunity to work with Andre [Henning] as a coach and play with some of the world’s and Germany’s best players and great talents is something I am very excited about and will inspire me to get the very best out of myself. 

“I’m looking forward to get familiar with the club, the team and their culture and together aim for Bundesliga and EHL success. ”

Henning added: “It is something very special for the whole club to be able to inspire a world-class player and world-class guy like Mink. Without question, he will help us with his quality as a defender and corner shooter. 

“I had a lot of really exciting conversations with him. His overwhelming enthusiasm, his eagerness, his enthusiasm to do big things together with the team have swept us away. I am sure that he will have a huge, extremely positive impact on the team. 

“With Mink and also Vincent Vanasch, we have great personalities from Holland and Belgium, who will provide new ideas and will boost our culture. They know how titles are won so they will also help our many young talents in the squad, he will play a major role as a role model. We are extremely proud to have Mink with us soon. ”