The 16th edition of the WSE Champions League Women will be the opportunity to once again admire women’s hockey in a hall of real importance for the entire women’s sector. The Pavilhao Fidelidade in Lisbon will be an unmissable theater in one of the highest levels ever reached by Women’s European Rink Hockey: it is the second final four to be played on the Benfica’s parquet. Three great traditional women’s hockey teams face each other, already protagonists of finals and victories. Generali Palau Plegamans holds the last two titles after three finals played, Benfica with one title (2014-15) and Gijon with five titles (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2018). The asturians won the top trophy right on the Lisbon rink in 2018.
The Semifinal challenge is the rematch of the 2022 final played in the Gijon arena in front of one of the most important audiences in world history. A game decided immediately by the catalans who managed to keep the small advantage until the end. Gijon-Palau is a challenge within the challenge, between the top representatives of Spanish hockey to reach the dream of yet another final: on one side the icons Sara Roces and Marta Piquero, and on the other Laura Puigdueta and Aina Florenza. The home team, Benfica, will face the big surprise of 2023, Vila-sana, in their first European participation and immediately qualified in the Final Four. The small Spanish club can count four Argentine girls who are World Champions, among all Luciana Agudo and the Fernandez sisters and Daiana Silva, together with the Porta sisters and the national goalkeeper Salvat. But Benfica can aspire to the final that has been missing since 2018 with the highest representatives of Portuguese hockey. Marlene Sousa, the icon of Portuguese wheels, but a whole series of players who both in Europe and in the World Champ have shown great growth, such as Maria Sofia Silva, Raquel Santos and the young Ines Severino. A final four that will be among the most balanced and uncertain in history, for a show that year after year increases its interest in the public and in the general media.
Berta Busquets (Generali Palau Plegamans) and Marta Piquero (Telecable Gijon) – Photo Credit: WSE
WSE Champions League Women – Final Four – 29 and 30 April 2023
Semi-finals – Saturday 29th April 2023
h 12:30 (GMT+1) h 13:30 (CEST) – Semi-final #1 – Telecable Gijon H.C. (SP) x Generali H.C: Palau Plegamans (SP)
Media kit | Live Streaming WSE TV
h 15:00 (GMT+1) h 16:00 (CEST) – Semi-final #2 – C.P. Vila-Sana (SP) x S.L. Benfica (PT)
Media kit | LIVE TV BenficaTV| Live Streaming WSE TV
Final – Sunday 30th April 2023
h 13:00 (GMT+1) h 14:00 (CEST) – Final – Winner Semi-final #1 x Winner Semi-final #2
