From 1986 to 2002, Hickl competed in six international competitions for West Germany/Germany: four times at the Chess Olympiad (1986, 1988, 1996, 2002) and two times at the European Team Chess Championship (1989, 1992). His overall Olympiad score is 20/35 (+14–9=12), and his overall European Team Championship score is 10/14 (+7–1=6). He was the top performer on the first reserve board, scoring 6/8 (+4–0=4} for a of 2612, at the 1992 European Team Championship.