AH&BC Amsterdam and Kampong qualify for EHL

AH&BC Amsterdam and SV Kampong have qualified for next season’s EHL Men after they made it through to the Dutch championship final.

For Amsterdam, they went through a weekend rollercoaster to defeat Den Bosch 6-5 on aggregate following their double-header.

On Saturday, they built a 2-0 lead only to be pegged back to 2-2 before Brent van Bijnen won the tie 3-2 with two minutes to go.

It proved a vital moment in the final reckoning. Den Bosch – on home turf – built a 3-1 lead in the first half of the second leg with a double from Timo Boers but Boris Burkhardt completed a hat trick to level the tie at 3-3.

It means Amsterdam are back in the EHL for the first time since October 2022’s KO16 in Hamburg.

For Kampong, their passage to the final was surprisingly simpler as they ran up a 5-2 home win on Saturday afternoon against HC Bloemendaal – the regular season winners – thanks to four goals from Jip Janssen.

A day later, they stayed out of range with a 3-1 win for an 8-3 aggregate victory. The sides will play the first leg of the final on Saturday with the second leg being played the following Thursday.