The Mixed division saw a new champion crowned!
August 27, 2025 by Benjamin Rees in Recap
The latest edition of the European Youth Ultimate Championships took place in Trnava, Slovakia, earlier this month with 31 teams across the U20 Women’s, Mixed, and Open divisions duking it out to claim the continental crown. Which nations demonstrated the depth of their development, and which players established themselves as ones to watch for the future (and present)?
The Mixed division featured ten teams, split into two pools of five, with the top two finishers in each pool going through to a power pool – the top two after the power pool received a bye into the semi-finals, while the other two teams played quarter-finals against the top two teams from the lower pool of six.
Italy and Poland quickly affirmed themselves as the class of a Pool A, with the Italians only conceding six points total against Slovakia, Slovenia, and Switzerland. Poland found it tougher sledding, but were able to stand strong against the three weaker teams. The game between Italy and Poland went all the way to sudden death, with Italy closing out a 14-13 victory.
In Pool B, France and Hungary were the clear favorites going in and justified that status, as they swept aside Belgium, Israel, and Spain, to set up a clash between the two to decide who would top the pool. Hungary held on the first point, but would never taste the lead again as France were able to record a confidence-boosting 15-10 win for the early bragging rights.
With the top four teams in the tournament matching up against each other in the power pool, the pecking order at the top of the division began to take shape. Hungary found a gritty late comeback in the wind to knock off Italy in universe, with France taking care of business against the Poles. In the rematches of the initial pools (results were not carried forward into the top pool, to ensure teams played the same number of games as those in the bottom pool), Italy impressed in downing Poland 15-9, while Hungary were able to reverse their fortunes against France by emerging 10-8 winners. This meant the final round of power pool play provided a probable preview of the semi-finals, with Hungary beating Poland 15-12 in a dead rubber, with the Hungarians guaranteed first spot and Poland fourth, while France accelerated after half against the Italians for a 15-12 scoreline.
Switzerland and Belgium emerged from the bottom pool to make the quarter-finals, but the higher seeds took care of business as expected to set up the semi-finals as the promised rematches from the last round of power pool games. Hungary and Poland played out a less clean, more defensively inclined version of their previous matchup, but the outcome was the same with the Hungarians winning 13-8 to seal another podium place, backing up their recent1 successes. The other semi-final between France and Italy was an absolute slobberknocker. After an early French break to lead 2-0, Italy roared back before the break to take an 8-6 lead into half. The interval seemed to disrupt any rhythm they’d found, with the French scoring four of the first five after the resumption to lead 10-9, before Italy held to take it to universe point. Both sides had their opportunities, but France were able to hold their nerve for the 11-10 for the final berth.
Italy and Poland matched for a third time in the bronze medal game, where the Italians were able to pick themselves up from the crushing semi-final loss to seal their second 15-9 win over Poland of the week, and third triumph in total, to claim a well-deserved bronze medal.
Poland ran slightly out of steam at the end as their star power faded, but it shone brightly for most of the week. Oskar Łuc went nuclear with 43 combined goals and assists, Benedykt Deskur stepped up for the offense after Oskar Boguszewski’s untimely injury and showed his varied throwing arsenal, Anna Mirecka was a consistent chain-mover downfield, and Jana Senečić applied the pressure on defense and marshalled the offense after the turn. Poland’s success in the mixed division here replicates the performances at senior level, with many of the players here representing Savage Ultimate2 and Sky This Warszawa3, and illustrating again how the country’s focus on the mixed division is paying dividends.
Given how Italy has historically prioritised the single-gender divisions, their continued progress in mixed is a welcome sign for this European powerhouse. Mattia Ghelli was a playmaker all over the pitch, Iacopo Davoli was devastating in transition, exploiting quick pickups after the turn, Giulia Villa was an absolute rock offensively, and Marta Rota and Rebecca Rampazzo patrolled the wings of their signature zone ruthlessly, often getting chunk yardage with disc in hand as well. Clearly well-coached with stifling zone defenses and the urgency to get things moving in transition, it’s fair to wonder if they could, and should, have finished even higher, given the second half struggles against Hungary and in the semi-finals. Regardless, a bronze medal speaks to the depth of youth talent in Italy, with more players coming from outside the traditional hubs of Bologna and Rimini, which is a very good sign for future iterations of the team.
The final saw the third and final meeting between Hungary and France, with the two splitting their previous two matchups. The adjustments the Hungarians had made after their first game to flip the result for the second clearly caused France trouble, taking a one break lead at 3-1, and tacking on another before the half-time cap kicked in giving them a 7-4 lead at the interval. France had shown an ability to come from behind in their semi-final, and they generated plenty of break chances in the first half, so the threat of the comeback was legitimate if they could sort out their D-line offense. While they still had too many unforced turns, they were consistently able to generate opportunities in the second half, and snapped off a four point run after the break for their first lead at 8-7. Hungary held and immediately broke back, before France were able to steady themselves to level it up at 9-9, creating a universe point for the gold medal. Hungary received the pull, and worked it to Levente Molnár just beyond midfield on the near sideline, who ripped a gorgeous inside-out flick looking for Miksa Mikán, only for France’s Barnabe Earl-Anstee to rip it away, with Mikán convinced he was able to get there first. After a brief discussion and a look at the replay, Mikán retracted his call, giving France possession with the chance to ice it. The possession would not last long – Eva Payet tried to bend a backhand around Molnár, but he used his full wingspan to dive and palm it away, and he stepped up to provide the winning assist when Annabella Gaál broke free to collect a simple forehand for the gold-medal grab.
While the universe point loss meant that France were unable to capture any gold medals, to end up on the podium in all three divisions shows their prowess at the younger age divisions. While their male matching players dominated the stat sheet, Lisandro Mathon doing serious damage downfield with 20 goals and Timothé Ameur orchestrating the offense with 17 assists, Eva Payet often felt like the key piece of their offense, providing a reliable reset and making sound decisions, and Pauline Dumas and Camille Phylemy ratcheted up pressure defensively all week long. France’s ability to generate turns all tournament was clear, and while they were able to advance downfield afterwards, they tended to come unstuck in the redzone, and that profligacy hurt them in the end as they fell agonisingly short. As this crop of players ages up, that extra polish in tight spaces should come.
Eyebrows were raised when Hungary hosted EUC in 20194, and their mixed team featured a number of athletes in their early teens, playing a very unconventional style. While that crop has aged out, they have continued to bring strong talent through their school system, and the decision to select younger players if they believe in their ability has paid handsome dividends. They’re now a stalwart on the podium in the mixed division, after silver two years ago in Padova, two golds at JJUC in Wrocław in 20225, and, yes, the bronze medal in Birmingham last year that left a sour taste for many given their spirit of the game issues throughout that tournament. It’s very pleasing, then, to see a marked improvement in their spirit scores all week long, and it appears to have been a conscious effort to improve in that aspect over the last twelve months, with Miksa Mikán retracting his foul call on universe point the clearest example of that. Ferenc Klément’s talent was never in doubt, and while there were clearly times when you could see frustration building, he was able to harness and challenge that in a much more useful way, carving up the field with 43 goal contributions. Mikán was the favorite field stretcher with 22 goals, and their powerful female athletes all came armed with a full arsenal of throws, with Kata Vigh, Laura Profanter, and Alexandra Szilágyi really catching the eye on both sides of the disc whenever they took the field. The Hungarians have boldly formed their own path in the sport, and despite some struggles in the past, their victory this week, and the manner in which they won, is hopefully a bright indication of what’s to come in future.
