Both Dutch finals will be played in front of sold out audiences on Thursday afternoon as the battle for the national title reaches its denouement.

AH&BC Amsterdam will be looking to overturn a 4-3 deficit against SV Kampong at the Wagener Stadium in the men’s final following a rollercoaster at the Klapperboom.

A late Boris Burkhardt stroke has Amsterdam back in range after the Utrecht side had built a 4-2 advantage with time running out in the first leg, putting the contest right back in the balance.

All 6,600 tickets were snapped up earlier this week for the second leg which takes place at 15.00 (CET).

The women’s final is even closer with the first leg ending 1-1 after SCHC’s Maud van den Heuvel cancelled out Pien Sanders’ opening goal in the first leg in Bilthoven.

Den Bosch will enjoy home advantage with the 4,700 tickets on offer now all taken up as they look to retain the crown. Their battle will be at 12.45 CET and is live on nos.nl.

CAM92 and Saint Germain are confirmed as the French EHL Men’s qualifiers after the latter joined the regular season champions in next weekend’s championship final.

Saint Ger produced a great 3-0 win on Saturday to take the advantage against Polo Marcq-en-Baroeul, Owen Jeammot, Jules Verrier and Hugo Verrier giving them a healthy start.

Polo won the second leg in a 3-2 outcome with Victor Charlet among their scorers but strikes from Blaise Rogeau and another from Jules Verrier gave the Parisians the overall advantage.

For CAM92, they were 8-3 semi-final aggregate winners over Lille MHC with Corentin Sellier scoring on the double in the first leg with further strikes from Louis Poupee and Gabin Lorrazuri.

Matteo Desgouillons scored a hat trick in the second leg on Sunday in a 4-2 success to win both legs with a healthy gap in the final reckoning.

The final will take place on Sunday, June 1st.

Lynn van Dieren’s first leg goal proved the sole difference as Braxgata ended Gantoise women’s reign as Belgian women’s champions as they won the two-leg affair 1-0.

Against initial predictions, Brax dominated the first leg but only had that van Dieren goal – a close range finish – to show for their strong performance.

The second leg followed a similar pattern in the first half with Brax making more of the play before Gantoise fought back in the third quarter and pinning their rivals back.

But they could not break through and so it provided the perfect send-off for a beaming Judith Vandermeiren, a child of the club, who savoured this success.

“Gantoise were favorites, but we were confident,” she smiled. “We had to not fall into their game, we had to control by staying calm, make them run and anticipate their counters. We were solid defensively but we still had difficulty scoring.”

They will now take their place in the EHL Women’s FINAL8 next year with Gantoise set for the FINAL12.

Gantoise completed an historic season as they won the Belgian men’s title to go along with the EHL title, edging out Royal Léopold in a shoot-out after two epic battles over the weekend.

Léo won the first one 3-2 with three goals from José Basterra helping them come back from 2-1 down.

The result was reversed a day later with Gantoise earning the 3-2 scoreline. They wiped out the Léo advantage through Charles Masson but Tom Boon quickly put his side back in front.

Alex Hendrickx levelled the aggregate score in the third quarter and another rocket in the fourth period had them flying high.

That was until Basterra deflected in the dying seconds to level at 5-5 overall, sending it to a shoot-out.

There, though, Gantoise produced a perfect set of five shoot-out goals while Nicolas Poncelet saw his effort come back off the post for Léo.

“It’s completely crazy,” admitted Pascal Kina, the Gantoise coach. “During the first leg, despite the narrow defeat, we had already shown good things. But we knew we were capable of much better.

“This last goal that really came out of nowhere, that’s sport. But we showed tremendous character, as is often the case, to bounce back.

“I don’t want to think about next season and our future goals yet. I’m going to celebrate first and then we’ll get back to work on Tuesday.”

The result means Gantoise will play in the EHL Men’s FINAL8 next Easter with Royal Léopold going to the KO16 in October.

Braxgata’s men will play in the EHL for the first time after they held off Waterloo Ducks 3-2 in the third place playoff on Saturday evening.

The Brabançons built up a 3-0 lead with goals from Jeff De Winter, Harry Van Bavel and Tanguy Clément. Waterloo fought back with two Tomi Domene goals in the closing five minutes but left it too late to force a shoot-out.

Loïck Luypaert and his teammates were able to rejoice and celebrate this great moment with their many supporters in the stands in Antwerp.

“We deserved this EHL ticket after finishing in 3rd place at the end of the regular phase and our semi-final second leg against Léo, which we won 3-4,” said Luypaert after the match.

“We can always be greedy and say that we have regrets. But this is the first time in three years that we have played in the playoffs again. We can be very proud. There is a lot of potential for the future.”

Club de Campo de Madrid will continue their unbroken run in the women’s EHL after they confirmed top spot in the Spanish regular season with a 5-0 win over Real Sociedad.

The goals were shared around with five different scorers on the mark during the contest, a result which keeps them out of range of Atlètic Terrassa.

They sit five points back despite a strong 1-0 win over Real Club de Polo with Sofia Belen Rogoski Curi getting the only goal.

Club Egara are also confirmed in the playoffs while Junior FC are within one point of making it, too. They sit in fourth spot, three clear of Polo, after a 4-1 win over UD Taburiente which also gives the Sant Cugat club a decent advantage on goal difference.

As such, Junior’s home game against Egara on Sunday will be key in formally determining the final playoff spot.