Greece
Five teams have earned promotion to the top flights of the European Amateur and Boys' Team Championships at the Division 2 event in Greece.
The International Olympic Academy course at Costa Navarino hosted 17 teams looking to earn their positions in Division 1 of the Men's (9 teams) and Boys' (8 teams) categories.
In the Men's competition, Portugal (+16), the Czech Republic (+18), Slovakia (+29) and Croatia (+33) qualified for the four-team Flight A in the stroke play qualifying, and competed in a round-robin for two available positions in Division 1. Next year's Division 1 hosts, Slovenia, automatically earn a spot in the championship for 2027.
The Czech Republic were the strongest team in the match play phase, winning all three of their matches to earn promotion in style, lifting the Men's Division 2 trophy. They'll be joined by Slovakia, who defeated Portugal in a tight match on Friday, then overcame Croatia to score two wins and claim the silver medals.
In the Boys' event, contested by eight countries, Finland were clearly the strongest team. After winning the stroke play qualifying by an enormous 35 shots, the Finns were only challenge by Portugal in the semi-finals, who took them to the 7th and last match, but came up short by 4 to 3.
Ireland defeated Poland in the semi-finals of the eight-team bracket to make it to the gold medal match, and guarantee promotion. They came up short against Finland to take the runner-up spot.
The big match of the final day was Poland vs. Portugal, with the winner earning a place in the top flight of the Boys' event for 2027. An extremely tight contest, which saw all but two matches go to the 18th or beyond, was ultimately won by Poland's Antoni Hawkins on the 22nd hole, sending his team to the Boys' Division 1.
