With 342 caps to his name, Felix Denayer has been a mainstay of the Belgium men’s national team for 13 years. But, in a career that has seen the Red Lions move up the rankings and win the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup, the 2019 European Championships and the FIH Hockey Pro League Season Two, nothing has matched the past three months of his life.
An Olympic gold medal in August was followed by the birth of his second daughter just a few weeks ago.
“We have had quite an intense summer but the highlight was to welcome Babette to the family. Roxanne [Felix’s eldest daughter] has a replica Olympic medal, so that was a nice surprise when she was given that.
“At the end of the Olympic final, I felt very emotional because it has been a very long ride. The Covid situation didn’t make things easy, but we had a big dream to add the Olympic title to the World Cup and the European Championships.”
“We actually won the title twice in five minutes,” he adds with a laugh, referring to the video referral on the final Australian shoot-out.
As the team enters a new cycle, Denayer says resetting targets is not an easy task.: “It is not easy to come down from the top of the mountain but we have a new coach so that will refresh things. We also have a new performance centre, which will be a new home for us. It is almost as if we are leaving the past behind and building a new future.”
Denayer is also excited at the prospect of playing in front of a home crowd for the opening FIH Hockey Pro League matches against Germany – something that has not happened since 2019.
“The challenge [of the FIH Hockey Pro League] is that you play the top teams in the world and you don’t have a long period to prepare. With a tournament, you build into it, but with Pro League, you play two games and then return to the clubs, then a month later, you go again.
“It is a great opportunity to develop the team and test yourself regularly against the top teams. It is also a chance to get some new players in and lay the foundations for the next few years.”
For the matches against Germany, Denayer is expecting a real challenge. “Germany are always looking to do something different tactically. So we will look to react to that and also to make tweaks to our own play.”
With only one player from the Olympic squad retiring – Thomas Briels – the Belgium fans will get a chance to welcome their team onto the pitch. It is a prospect that Denayer and the squad are relishing.
Watch the full interview on Watch.Hockey.
#FIHProLeague
