Hockey World Cup
The Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournamewnt was founded in 1924 by Frenchman, Paul Leautey. It Since 1971, it is held every four years, between the Summer Olympics.
The six founding members of the World Cup with women’s and men’s teams representing their countries were Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain and Switzerland.
In 1927, the Women’s Hockey World Cup was developed quickly and was organized by the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Association (IFWHA) until 1981.
The FIH and IFWHA came together in 1982 to form the International Hockey Federation.
There have only been five countries who have shared winning the World Cup. Pakistan has won four times, while The Netherlands and Australia three times, Germany two times and India has won once.
The Hockey World Cup consists of a qualification stage and a final tournament stage. The format for each stage is the same. The qualification stage is where all participating teams play in the qualification round. Teams divide into two or more pools and compete for a berth in the final tournament. Berths are decided during the playoffs as the top two teams are automatically qualified.
During the final tournament, the continental champions and other qualified teams are featured. Once again, the teams will divide into pools and play a round robin tournament.
The composition of the pools is determined using the current world rankings. The top two teams in each pool play in the semifinals for a place in the final while the bottom two teams in the semifinals have a third place playoff.
Other teams will have playoffs to find out their final position. If the teams are third or fourth in their pool, they play for the fifth place. If the teams are fifth or sixth in their pool, they play for the ninth place.
Upcoming Tournaments
- Men's Hockey World Cup Jan 13-29, 2023 - Bhubaneswar & Rourkela, India
- 2026 (men's and women's): Wavre, Belgium & Amstelveen, Netherlands
Related Pages
- Other hockey tournaments
- Hockey at the Olympics
- Learn more about the sport of Hockey
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