Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships return to Finland

The Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships return to Finland for the second consecutive year, with competition beginning on Saturday 22 November 2025.

The A-Division teams will return to the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, while the B-Division teams will play at the Pajulahti Sports Centre in Lahti, approximately two hours away.

Both competitions will run from 22–29 November 2025.

The Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships A-Division is a qualifier for the World Championships. Among the women’s teams, the top seven placed teams from this competition will qualify for the BKT World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary, Alberta from 14–22 March 2026.

Six women’s teams from World Curling’s Americas and Pacific-Asia zones already qualified for the World Women’s at the recent U.S. Steel Pan Continental Curling Championships 2025 in Virginia, Minnesota. These teams, in qualification order, are China, Canada (as hosts), Korea, United States, Japan and Australia.

Among the men’s teams, the top eight placed teams from this competition will earn their spot at the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship, in Ogden City, Utah, from 27 March – 4 April 2026.

Five men’s teams from World Curling’s Americas and Pacific-Asia zones already qualified for the World Men’s at the Pan Continental Championships. These teams, in qualification order, are Canada, United States (as hosts), Japan, China and Korea.

This will be the 50th edition of the European Championships, once again supported by long-term sponsor Le Gruyère AOP, for the 23rd time.

Marc Muskatewitz, Team Germany © World Curling / Stephen Fisher

Teams

A-Division

The men’s teams are:

Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Austria: skipped by Mathias Genner, this team finished seventh last year
Czechia: skipped by Lukas Klima, this team finished eighth last year
Denmark: skipped by Jacob Schmidt, this team won last season’s B-Division to gain promotion this year
Germany: skipped by Marc Muskatewitz, this team are defending champions
Italy: skipped by Joel Retornaz who is making his seventeenth appearance and has won three European bronze medals. This team finished sixth last year
Norway: skipped by Magnus Ramsfjell, this team won bronze last year
Poland: skipped by Konrad Stych, this team also gained promotion from last year’s B-Division
Scotland: skipped by Bruce Mouat, this team are current World Champions — they won silver last year and have previously won four European titles
Sweden: skipped by Niklas Edin, who is making a fifteenth appearance, this team are current Olympic champions. They finished fifth last year, while Edin himself has previously won seven European titles
Switzerland: skipped by Yannick Schwaller, this team finished fourth last year.

The women’s teams are:

Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Türkiye.

Czechia: skipped by Anna Kubeskova, Czechia return to the A-Division after winning last season’s B-Division
Denmark: this team is 2022 Champions. Skip Madeleine Dupont makes a thirteenth European appearance, while her sister Denise marks a fifteenth appearance
Germany: promoted from last year’s B-Division, this young team is skipped by Sara Messenzehl
Italy: skipped by reigning Olympic Mixed Doubles Champion Stefania Constantini, this team finished fourth in last year’s event
Lithuania: skipped by Virginija Paulauskaite, this team makes their second appearance at this event, having finished eighth last year
Norway: skipped by Marianne Rørvik, who is making her fourteenth European appearance, this team finished seventh last year
Scotland: skipped by Sophie Jackson, who plays lead stones, this team won bronze last year
Sweden: this team are the 2018 Olympic champions, skipped by Anna Hasselborg. They have won the European title twice, and took silver last year
Switzerland: skipped by Corrie Hürlimann, this team is making a debut at this level
Turkiye: skipped by Dilsat Yildiz, who is making a thirteenth appearance, this team finished sixth last year.

B-Division

The men’s B-Division will see 16 teams compete: Belgium, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye, Ukraine and Wales.

The women’s B-Division will feature ten teams: Austria, England, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Playing format

Round-robin play commences on Saturday 22 November and will continue until Thursday 27 November. In both men’s and women’s events, the top four teams will progress to semi-finals.

Men’s semi-finals and bronze medal games will take place Friday 28 November. In the women’s event, the semi-finals will take place on the evening of Thursday 27 November, with the bronze medal game on Friday 28 November. Both women’s and men’s gold medal games will be staged on Saturday 29 November.

For the semi-finals, 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.

Find the full schedule here.

The men’s and women’s B-Division round robin gets underway on Saturday 22 November. The men’s qualification games will take place on Friday 28 November, with semi-finals and medal games in the both the men’s and women’s competitions to follow on Saturday 29 November.

Find the full schedule here.