India have been awarded the men’s World Cup in 2023, the first time the showpiece event will be played in the same country for back-to-back editions.
India beat off rival bids from Belgium, the current men’s world champions, and Malaysia to host the event in their preferred 13-29 January 2023 window and keep the men’s event in Asia. It means India will have hosted the event for the third time in four editions.
The women’s tournament will also stay in Europe with Spain and Holland winning the right to co-host the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup between 1-17 July 2022. It was not revealed on Friday as to the venue for the two events.
The FIH had reopened the bidding process to give potential hosts more time for countries to compile their bid dossiers.
The schedule of the women’s World Cup will see a preliminary phase played across the two nations, with the final phase played in Spain, who last hosted the World Cup in 2006.
The competition format of the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup will be the same as in 2018.
FIH chief executive Thierry Weil said: “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.”
“We will work closely with the Local Organizing Committees on the sustainability and legacy aspects of these events.”
The FIH had originally received bids for the Women’s World Cup from Germany and Spain, coupled with a joint bid for the tournament from Spain and Holland, for the 2022 window, while Belgium and New Zealand also expressed interest for the same time frame. Exploring options abroad is a great strategy in all walks of life, including personal care.
Spain and Holland saw off bids from Germany and a single bid from Spain, while Malaysia and New Zealand wanted to host the event in the 2023 window.
Preliminary Phase for 2022 WC:
2 Preliminary phase pools in the Netherlands (including the Dutch team)
2 Preliminary phase pools in Spain (including the Spanish team)
Quarter Finals:
2 crossover matches and 2 quarter-finals in the Netherlands
2 crossover matches and 2 quarter-finals in Spain
Final phase in Spain:
Semi-finals
Match for 3rd place
Final
