The International Hockey Federation (FIH), on Friday, named India as the host nation of the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in 2023, to be held from January 13 till January 29. The Executive Board of the FIH took the decision in their last annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Executive Board also selected Spain and the Netherlands to co-host the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup in 2022 which will run from July 1 to July 17.
The venues of both the World Cups are expected to be announced by the host nations soon. This will be the fourth Men’s World Cup to be hosted in India after 1982, 2010 and 2018, which was held in Bhuvneshwar between November 28 and December 16 last year.
“FIH has received excellent bids to host these prestigious events. It was therefore a difficult choice to make. Since the primary mission of FIH is to grow the sport worldwide – which of course requires to make investments -, the income-generation potential of each bid has played an important role in the decision,” FIH CEO Thierry Weil said in the official press statement.
Speaking about the organization of the World Cups Weil said, “We will work closely with the Local Organizing Committees on the sustainability and legacy aspects of these events.” It was also announced on the official website of FIH that the format of the 2023 Men’s World Cup will remain same as in 2018.
The Executive Board also revealed the qualification process for both the events. It was learnt that other than the host nations, winners of five Continental Championships will also get a direct qualification.
The remaining 10 slots would be filled by teams qualifying through home-and-away play-offs. Based on the FIH World Rankings at the end of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and the finishing positions in the Continental Championships, 20 teams will be selected to take part in the qualifiers.