FIH presses ahead with Hockey 5s promo event in 2022

World hockey has pressed ahead with plans to hold its first senior Hockey 5s event in a further bid to showcase the sport.

The rescheduled event will be staged between June 4-5 in Lausanne, a constructed pitch staged on the Place de la Navigation.

Ten teams from four continents will take part, although England and Germany, two teams who were originally set to play in the postponed September event, will not take part.

German officials have recently expressed fears over Hockey 5s, saying that the FIH’s hopes of adding the short format to the Olympic programme will damage the sport.

Access to ‘FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022’ will be free of charge and the event will be broadcast live on the Watch.Hockey platform.

The teams playing two halves of 10 minutes each are: Switzerland, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Poland (Men) and Switzerland, India, Poland, South Africa and Uruguay (Women).

In 2019, in order to further boost the development of hockey globally through Hockey5s, the FIH Executive Board decided to create an FIH Hockey5s World Cup – with the inaugural edition planned in 2024 – and, in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour, which will consist of events similar to Lausanne’s.

FIH chief executive Thierry Weil said: “It was truly heart-breaking to have to postpone the inaugural event and I’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to the local authorities, in particular the City of Lausanne and the Canton of Vaud, for their continuous trust and support.

“Hockey5s is a great format to promote our sport and especially introduce it to sports fans not yet familiar with hockey. I invite everyone to come to this world event and enjoy the speed, skills and fun of our game.”

The Lausanne format forms part of the FIH’s bid for more events, which includes the first FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Oman in early 2024.