Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2024 set for action in Finland and Sweden

World Curling championship action continues in Europe when the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2024 are staged from 16-23 November.

The Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, Finland will host the A-Division competitions of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2024, while the B-Division will be held in the Östersund Curling Club in Sweden. The A-Division consist of ten women’s teams and ten men’s teams, while ten women’s and 16 men’s teams will contest the B-Division.

This will be the 49th European Championships to be held, once again supported by long-term sponsor Le Gruyère AOP, who will be title sponsor for the 22nd time. In total, 23 Member Associations will be represented at these championships.

Teams

The ten A-Division women’s teams are: Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Türkiye.

The ten A-Division men’s teams are: Austria, Czechia, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Among the women’s teams:

Denmark, European champions in 2022, feature the experienced Dupont sisters – skip Madeleine and Denise

Estonia will be looking to improve on last year’s sixth place

Hungary gained promotion by winning last year’s B-Division

Italy, skipped by Olympic Mixed Doubles champion Stefania Constantini, took silver medals last year

Lithuania gained promotion from last year’s B-Division, by finishing second

Norway are last season’s bronze medal winners

Scotland make one team member change from last year’s fifth-placed line-up, with Fay Henderson brought in as Alternate

Sweden — having missed out last year, Anna Hasselborg’s team of Olympic champions and two-times European champions return this year

Switzerland is again represented by Silvana Tirinzoni’s team, who are defending the title they won last year, that sits alongside their four world titles

Türkiye, last year’s eighth-placed team, are skipped by Dilsat Yildiz, who is making her twelfth European appearance.

Among the men’s teams:

Austria gained promotion from last year’s B-Division

Czechia finished eighth last year

England also gained promotion last year by winning the B-Division

Germany, skipped by Marc Muskatewitz — is a different team from last year’s sixth-placed representatives

Italy – last year’s fourth-placed team – are skipped by the experienced Joel Retornaz, who is making his sixteenth European appearance

Netherlands – a slightly-changed line-up from last year’s seventh-placed team

Norway, skipped again by Magnus Ramsfjell, will be looking to improve on last year’s fifth place

Scotland, defending champions, are skipped by Bruce Mouat, who has led his team to gold in all four previous appearances at this event

Sweden, last year’s silver medallists and current Olympic champions, is skipped by Niklas Edin, who makes a fourteenth appearance, having won this title seven times

Switzerland, last year’s bronze medal winners, is skipped again by Yannick Schwaller.

Format and Schedule

Round-robin play commences on Saturday 16 November and will continue until Thursday 21 November. In both men’s and women’s events, the top four teams will progress to semi-finals.

Semi-finals and qualification games will start on Thursday 21 November. For the semi-finals of both gender A-Divisions, the teams ranked first on the round-robin table will play the fourth-ranked teams, while the second and third-ranked teams will face each other. Both women’s and men’s gold medal games will be staged on Saturday 23November.

The ten B-Division women’s team, who will play in Östersund, Sweden, are: Austria, Czechia, England, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands (promoted from C-Division), Poland, Slovenia, and Ukraine (promoted from C-Division).

The sixteen B-Division men’s teams are: Belgium, Bulgaria (promoted from C-Division), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel (promoted from C-Division), Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Wales.

The men’s B-Division will play in two groups. Round-robin play gets underway on Saturday 16 November, with qualification and relegation games, followed by semi-finals being decided on Thursday 21and Friday 22November. B-Division gold medal games will take place on Saturday 21November.

As well as being championships in their own right, the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships 2024 A-Division also acts as qualifiers for the World Championships held later in the season.

In the women’s event, the teams are playing for qualification for the LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2025, being held in Uijeongbu, Korea in March. The top eight teams will qualify for this event.

Meanwhile, in the men’s event, qualification for the BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship 2025, which is being staged in Moose Jaw, Canada at the start of April, will be up for grabs. The top eight men’s teams from this event will qualify.

In addition, in both women’s and men’s competitions, the bottom two teams from the A-Division will be relegated to next season’s B-Division, while two teams from the B-Division will be promoted to next season’s A-Division. The bottom two teams from the B-Divisions will be demoted to the C-Division.