World hockey has outlined the schedule for the fifth season of its flagship Pro League competition, which will usher in promotion and relegation sides for the first time.
The 2023/24 season of the competition, which is still without a top-tier sponsor, will begin the mini tournaments in December in Argentina to it’s now traditional finish in mid-2024.
Season five will see two teams across the men and women formats who qualified through the Hockey Nations Cup played last year — India (women) and Ireland (men) — play the global league.
Meanwhile, the bottom-placed team from this season, in the women’s as well as the men’s League, will be relegated. New Zealand are currently precariously placed across both genders.
The FIH has already confirmed that the Pro League winners in the fifth season will gain direct qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
2023/24 Hockey Pro League schedule and venues:
Santiago del Estero, Argentina (6-11 December 2023)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (14-19 February 2024)
Rourkela, India (10-25 February 2024)
Antwerp, Belgium (23 May-2 June 2024)
Lee Valley, Great Britain (1-12 June 2024)
Utrecht, Netherlands (22-25 June 2024)
Amsterdam, Netherlands (22-30 June 2024)
