In a recent development, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Monday has announced that India would be the host of the FIH Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup 2021. The international governing body of the sport also announced that the tournament will be played towards the end of 2021.
The tournament gives some of the finest U-21 level players across the world, a platform to compete against the best and have a higher level of exposure.
Notably, this will not be the first time that India would host an international hockey tournament as India had already won accolades from across the world for hosting one of the best FIH Senior Men’s Hockey World Cups in 2018 after hosting the Junior World Cup in 2016.
Junior World Cup 🏆
The next Women’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup will be held in South Africa 🇿🇦 in 2021 and the Men’s edition will be staged in India 🇮🇳 in 2021!Read more: https://t.co/ID1TRuy8nO@SA_Hockey @TheHockeyIndia #RisingStars pic.twitter.com/F70WJUgv4K
— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) February 17, 2020
The Senior Men’s World Cup had been organised at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar.
The competition will witness as many as 16 teams fight it out for the title. Out of these, six teams will be from Europe, four from Asia including hosts India, a couple of teams from Africa, Oceania and Pan America each.
Germany, England, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and France have already secured their berths through performances in the European Continental Championships which were held last year.
The FIH confirmed in a statement that the venue, as well as dates for the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup, will be announced later.