FIH 2026 Hockey World Cup organisers have released ticket details for next summer’s co-hosted tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The brand-new Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre and the Wagener Stadium in Amsterdam will be the two venues used and matches split equally for the Aug 15-30 men’s and women’s showpiece.
The draw will take place next March. One semi-final for the men and one for the women will be played in Wavre and Amsterdam. The women’s final will be played in Amsterdam on Aug 29 and the men’s final in Wavre on Aug 30.
Tickets can be bought on www.worldcup.hockey.
It is only the third time in history that both the men’s and women’s World Cups will take place simultaneously.
Sixteen of the 32 participating nations are already known, with FIH qualifiers taking place in February to determine the make-up of the World Cup.
The FIH ParaHockey World Cup will also be staged alongside the World Cup for the first time
Qualified teams
In addition to host countries Belgium and the Netherlands, Argentina, China, Germany, New Zealand, Spain and the USA have already secured their place in the women’s tournament.
Argentina, Australia, Germany, India, New Zealand and Spain have also already secured their ticket for the men’s tournament.
New format
Nations will be divided into four groups of four. After the first group stage, the top two from each group will advance to a second group stage: the winners and runners-up from groups A and D will form the new group E.
The same goes for groups B and C, which will form the new group F. Similar to the numbers one and two, the numbers three and four will also form new groups after the first group stage: groups G and H.
In this second group stage, each country plays two more matches, against the two ‘new’ countries in the group. The result achieved against the country already played in the first group stage also counts towards the final ranking in the new group. The best two teams from the new groups E and F advance to the semi-finals. The third and fourth-placed teams will play placement matches for rankings 5 to 8. The countries from groups G and H will compete for places 9 to 16.
The World Cup venues
The Red Lions and Red Panthers will play their group matches in the new national hockey stadium in Wavre, which will now officially be called the Belfius Hockey Arena.
It is a modern, permanent hockey stadium with 4,000 permanent seats. For the World Cup, this will be expanded to 10,000 seats on a one-off basis. Construction of the stadium will be completed by the end of 2025.
The Wagener Stadium will be expanded to 10,000 fans.
When will Belgium and the Netherlands play?
First group stage:
· Saturday 15 August 2026 – 9 p.m. (M)
· Sunday 16 August 2026 – 5:30 p.m. (W)
· Monday 17 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (M)
· Tuesday 18 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (W)
· Wednesday 19 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (M)
· Thursday 20 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (W)
Second group stage:
· Friday 21 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (M)
· Saturday 22 August 2026 – 5:30 p.m. (W)
· Sunday 23 August 2026 – 5:30 p.m. (M)
· Monday 24 August 2026 – 8:30 p.m. (W)
Matches the Netherlands, in Amsterdam:
First group stage:
· Saturday 15 August 2026 – 4 p.m. (W)
· Sunday 16 August 2026 – 4 p.m. (M)
· Monday 17 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (W)
· Tuesday 18 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (M)
· Wednesday 19 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (W)
· Thursday 20 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (M)
Second group stage:
· Friday 21 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (W)
· Saturday 22 August 2026 – 4 p.m. (M)
· Sunday 23 August 2026 – 4 p.m. (W)
· Monday 24 August 2026 – 6 p.m. (M)
