BHUBANESWAR 08-Nov-2019
The Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) today selected India to host the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup (13-29 January 2023) and Spain and the Netherlands to co-host the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup (1-17 July 2022).
The decision was taken at the FIH Executive Board meeting in Lausanne. The venues will be announced by the host nations. The competition format of the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup will be the same as in 2018.
The Executive Board also approved the qualification process for both events. According to the process, the hosts will qualify automatically. The winners of the Continental Championships will qualify directly (5 teams).
The remaining 10 teams will qualify through a home-and-away play-off; the 20 teams involved in these qualifiers will be determined by Continental quotas, based on the FIH World Rankings at the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the finishing positions of teams in the Continental Championships.
India won the bid to host the 2023 Men`s Hockey World Cup after successfully hosting the last edition last year in Bhubaneswar. It will be a record fourth time that India will be hosting the competition since its inception in 1971.
Winning this bid holds great significance as also being in the year which will see India complete 75 years of independence and also looking to win the coveted title after the last win in 1975. Hockey buffs around the country will have the opportunity to witness their national sport, and also celebrate the platinum jubilee of independence watching their favourite players in action.
Last year, India had hosted the 14th edition of Men`s Hockey World Cup which was held at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Hockey India and the Government of Odisha received accolades from around the world for their hospitality and state-of-the-art facilities as hosts.
India will be the first country ever to host four Mens Hockey World Cups, after having hosted the mega event in 1982 (Mumbai), 2010 (New Delhi) and 2018 (Bhubaneswar). The 2018 edition saw India match the record of Netherlands which hosted three Men`s Hockey World Cups.
Along with the 2018 edition of the Men`s World Cup, India has also hosted some of the biggest hockey events in recent times including the FIH Champions Trophy in 2014, FIH Junior Men`s World Cup in 2016, FIH Hockey World League Final in 2017, FIH Men`s Series Finals in 2019 and the recently concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha.
