Will anyone be able to stop Clapham this time around? Will Mooncatchers capture that elusive debut title?
September 27, 2024 by Benjamin Rees in Preview with 0 comments
With the World Ultimate Championships now firmly in the rear-view mirror, attention returns to home shores for the climax of the European club season – EUCF. Before the drama Down Under interrupted the continental calendar, 16 teams in each division qualified for the main event in the first year under the new EUF qualification system, with qualifiers decided by a ranking algorithm (plus the wildcard tournament winners). How will it all shake out on the fields of Oostende, Belgium? We won’t find out until after the weekend, but there’s no harm in taking a closer look in advance to make some more educated guesses – here’s how the open division looks to be shaping up.
Tournament Profile
- Location: Oostende, Belgium
- Dates: September 27-29
- Weather: Cloudy and windy and a chance of showers all weekend. Highs of 16C/60F
- Watch: Four games are broadcast each round on SolidSport, two with Ulti.TV production and two via the AI Veo cameras, with pool play on Friday, crossovers, quarter-finals, and semi-finals on Saturday, with the bronze medal games and the finals on Sunday.
- Schedule: Games between 8:00 and 19:30 on Friday, 09:00 to 21:00 on Saturday and 09:00 to 16:00 on Sunday
Pool A
Mooncatchers (Brussels) lead the field, claiming the tournament’s number one seed after finishing top of the pile in the regular season. As well as claiming the first wildcard of the season with their victory at the Elite Invite, they posted an unblemished 12-0 record in their ranking games. The reigning silver medallists may well go into the weekend as favorites, with Daan De Maarée back in the European Player of the Year conversation, Tom Blasman and Ben Oort having a full season of integration under their belts, and Paul Arters crossing the Atlantic again to bolster their ranks. The main question will be how strongly the bulk of the squad feel the after effects of their WUC heartbreak, both physically and mentally, but anything other than a deep run in Oostende would be an enormous upset.
One Tribe (Bologna) finished the season in eighth spot, as well as winning Chambéry’s Summer Tour, to seal their maiden EUCF spot. A big early season victory over BFD La Fotta speaks volumes of their quality, and this younger Bologna outfit will be looking to Joshua Poltock, who was impressive in Italy Mixed’s silver medal run at EUC last year, to lead the charge here, alongside players like Tomasso Zanni who have also demonstrated their prowess in the younger age divisions.
XVI (Dublin) are back at the main event for the first time since xEUCF in 2021, now with a national championship in the trophy cabinet, and the Dubliners will be looking to do some damage after a twelfth place finish at the end of the regular season. A 9-2 record is impressive, with creditable wins including victories over Alba, SMOG, and Heidees, but big defeats to top sides like Tchac and Chevron Action Flash. Jack MacNamara and Ciaran Costello, key contributors to Ireland Mixed’s bronze medal last year in Limerick, are the biggest names to look out for here.
Iznogood (Noisy-le-Sec) snuck into EUCF by the very skin of their teeth, claiming the sixteenth and final spot over Heidees by, essentially, a single goal. An 8-6 regular season record is nothing to write home about, including a 12-10 to poolmates XVI at the Grenoble Spring Tour, but the quality is there to finish much higher than their initial seed. Benjamin Fenrich, fresh off claiming bronze with France Mixed at WUC, can outrun anyone, and Clément Giffard, complete with signature power plait, is always impressive to watch.
Pool B
Clapham (London) head Pool B, finishing the regular season second and with a 12-2 record, but with a number of question marks. The Bullfrogs haven’t taken the field as a unit since Windmill, where they only played two other EUCS teams, making the final only to lay an egg against the US national team. In their two other ranking tournaments, Clapham were working with much smaller squads, and with GB Open taking priority in the last few months it will be interesting to see how players transition back into their club roles. Justin Foord looked as good as ever at WUC, Connor McHale continues to be impactful on both sides of the disc, and Josh Briggs and Harry Ogden are back from the mixed division, but everyone on the roster is capable of stepping up if called upon. It’s easy to forget Clapham are the reigning champions, and that they beat Mooncatchers handily in last year’s final, but flying slightly under the radar didn’t seem to hurt them last year, and it would be a surprise not to at least see them on finals day again in Oostende.
3SB (Česke Budějovic) finished with an unblemished season in the record books, but a seventh place finish by the algorithm reveals much about their 12-0 record. None of those victories came against another EUCF qualifier, and while they were able to claim the crown at Summer Tour Trnava, they very nearly slipped up in the semi-finals against Outsiterz. There’s clearly talent on the roster, with the eccentric John Doherty leading the likes of Pavel Pelikán and Filip Halámka, but how the Czech outfit can handle the step up in competition will be a big factor in deciding their fate this weekend.
Gentle (Ghent) finished the regular season in ninth, but it would be a surprise to see them miss out on the top eight on home soil. Bronze medallists three years ago, and semi-finalists last campaign, Gentle have demonstrated their pedigree over the last few seasons, and those looking for their ceiling need look no further than their Elite Invite performance. While they fell in the final, Arthur Vande Weghe put in a nuclear performance that will make him a front-runner for the Offensive Player of the Year award, and a showing even close to that is nigh on impossible to stop. While Aaron Vande Weghe is now sidelined with a long-term knee injury suffered at Windmill, his loss is offset by the return of Tobe Decraene, arguably the continent’s best deep threat, whose game has gone from strength to strength since his sojourn stateside. Gentle looked poised for another deep run – the pool game against Clapham will give a great early look about how deep that could be.
Quijotes (Madrid) complete the lineup in Pool B, with a fourteenth place finish on the back of a strong performance at Summer Tour Chambéry, where they completed a clean sweep of the pool before falling to One Tribe in the final rematch. Expect the Spanish small style of offense, with standouts like Francisco Romano and José Gabaldoni never letting the disc settle, with a healthy dose of Quentin Moneuse sprinkled in for good measure. However they go in Belgium, it’s exciting to see Spanish ultimate making the transition onto the grass and showing well at continental level events.
Pool C
There’s always one pool that carries the ‘pool of death’ moniker, and it’s Pool C this time round, with two former EUCF winners, alongside two powerhouse programs who are previous world quarter-finalists. BFD La Fotta (Bologna) are the pool’s top seed, ranked third at the end of the regular season with a 10-7 record. It’s now five years since their sole triumph, but the roster seems as strong as ever, with Sebastian Rossi now a superstar, more international talent with Kais Mathé joining the ranks, and Luca Tognetti setting the tone defensively. While David Barzasi will be absent, there’s still more than enough strength in depth to go deep into the bracket in Belgium, but they came out on the wrong side of all three ranked encounters against Mooncatchers this season1 – it might be a relief, then, that if seedings hold they won’t face off again until the final.
Tchac (Pornichet) are a tough draw as the second team in the pool, with a fifth place ranking, 12-2 record, and victory at the Spring Tour in Grenoble. The French champions have recruited some ludicrous young talent, with Simon Ruelle, Léo Stanguennec, and Enzo Forget supplementing the regulars like Sullivan Roblet and Vincent Lepagnol. One of Europe’s most consistent performers without ever tasting gold, they could certainly come out on top of the pool, but such is the competition they could also be out of contention by the end of day one.
Ranelagh (Dublin) finished the regular season in tenth, as well as claiming victory in Malmö at the Summer Tour that would have earned a wildcard berth regardless. There have been some key departures since their superb EUCF victory two seasons ago, but Sam Murphy, the tournament MVP that weekend, is always a threat to go off, with Stephen Jones and Rory Keogh other big presences. The Dubliners are coming into the weekend on good form, backing up the Malmö title by reclaiming the Irish National Championships, and they’ll need to hit the ground running in their first game against La Fotta.
Bad Skid (Heilbronn) round out the pool, ranked in fifteenth with a 9-6 regular season record. While the Germans are not as feared as they once were, they have played some of the continent’s best close this year, although they do lack a statement victory this season, and were beaten 15-9 by Ranelagh at the Spring Tour in Padova. You can never write off the Germans, especially with all three Beutenmüller brothers, Nico Müller, and Steffen Döscher, and even in a tough pool making the bracket is very feasible, but unless they can find another gear they might not go much further.
Pool D
Wall City (Berlin) finished the season ranked fourth, and as such sit at the top of Pool D. Their only two ranked defeats in the regular season were close losses to Clapham and Chevron Action Flash, and they were victorious at the Summer Tour in Heilbronn to build a head of steam coming into EUCF. Conrad Schlör’s résumé speaks for itself, while Ferdia Rogers and Ondrej Rydlo have now had a full season to bed into the Berlin systems, adding even more offensive prowess. Strong performances from the German national sides at WUC indicate key players in good form, and Wall City seem like a safe bet to challenge at the weekend’s climax, but so far they’ve been unable to break up Europe’s big three in this division, 2022’s Elite Invite the only exception – can they finally get over the hump?
The pool’s second seed, with a sixth place ranking, is Chevron Action Flash (Birmingham). With a 14-5 record over five tournaments, no team in this division counted more events than the Brits, giving us lots of data to work with. What that data tells us is not really unexpected – Chevron beat the teams ranked below them and lost to the teams ranked above them. The one exception? A 15-13 win at the Elite Invite against Wall City. That will buoy hopes of a pool win and a bye to quarters, as will the performances across the season of Kody Elliott-Edwards and Cameron Weir, who have both been absolute monsters downfield, with the roster an excellent blend of fresh blood and weathered heads. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Chevy in semis, but as former winners they will have some in their ranks who have the championship experience required to make a title tilt.
Cotarica Grandes (Rimini) ended the ranking portion of the season in eleventh, posting a 9-5 record, but without any games in the algorithm since Tom’s Tourney at the start of May, making them a slight unknown quantity. There’s some incredible young talent on this roster, with Giorgio Bavia really catching the eye for the Italian U20 Open side at WJUC, and it’s easy to forget how young players like Andrea Fantini are, given everything they’ve shown for the senior national team. The Rimini side feel like a high variance team – with so much big play ability, if things break right the ceiling is high, but they struggle for consistency at times which also gives them a low floor.
GRUT (Amsterdam) complete Pool D, ranked thirteenth with 6-4 record, in their first season in the gendered divisions. Like Chevron, they tended to beat the teams ranked below them and lose to the teams ranked above, and while they have played good teams close they lack a signature victory to set out their stall on. That being said, they looked very comfortable at Windmill despite Filip Molnar pulling double duty with Tokay SuperTeam, while Walt Jansen is another of the increasing European contingent splitting time on both sides of the Atlantic. That being said, with a tighter roster than many at the tournament, it’s fair to wonder if a lack of legs might hurt them.
La Fotta won the Tom’s Tourney final but the Belgians had chosen not to count it in the rankings. ↩
