BREAKING: India to host Men's Hockey World Cup in 2023

After successfully hosting the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, India has won the bid to host the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup. It will be a record fourth time that the hockey-loving nation will be hosting the competition since its inception in 1971. Hockey India had earlier been among three nations to have submitted a bid to host the 2022/2023 Men's Hockey World Cup. Winning this bid holds great significance as also being in the year which will see India complete 75 years of independence and also looking to win the coveted title after the last win in 1975. Hockey buffs around the country will have the opportunity to witness their national sport, and also celebrate the platinum jubilee of independence watching their favourite players in action.

The FIH Executive Board announced their decision in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday, 8 November 2019 after the FIH Task Force thoroughly examined all bids and made a recommendation to the Executive Board (EB) on Wednesday, 6 November 2019. India's preferred the window to host the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup is between 13 January 2023 to 29 January 2023.

Last year, India had hosted the 14th edition of Men's Hockey World Cup which was held at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Hockey India received accolades from around the world for their hospitality and state-of-the-art facilities as host nation. It was a spectacle that led to Hockey India to bid for the prestigious tournament yet again, and become the first country ever to host four Men's Hockey World Cups, after having hosted the Men's Hockey World Cups in 1982 (Mumbai), 2010 (New Delhi) and 2018 (Bhubaneswar). The 2018 edition saw India match The Netherlands' record of hosting three Men's Hockey World Cups.

The country will be completing 75 years of independence in 2023, and the host federation Hockey India did not want to miss out on the opportunity to showcase the growth of the sport in the country in this landmark year. Along with the 2018 edition of the Men's World Cup, India has also hosted some of the biggest hockey events in recent times including the FIH Champions Trophy in 2014, FIH Junior Men's World Cup in 2016, FIH Hockey World League Final in 2017, FIH Men's Series Finals in 2019 and the recently concluded FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers Odisha. Smooth conduct, world-class facilities, and the success of these tournaments has therefore made India one of the major centres for hockey in the world.

Hockey India President Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad expressed his delight at the announcement by FIH. He said, "We are all very delighted to have won the bid to host the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup. When we had made the bid, we wanted to give our country another reason to celebrate 75 years of independence adding to that the fact that our last win was registered in 1975. And what better way to celebrate than to witness a pinnacle global event of our national sport on our soil. After having hosted the 14th edition of the Men's Hockey World Cup in 2018 which was recognized as one of the best hockey events ever, we were confident that we can host another Men's Hockey World Cup, and we are all very delighted on the prospects of hosting the top hockey-playing nations in India. We have the opportunity to use last year's experience to organize an even better Men's Hockey World Cup in 2023."

On the occasion of its last meeting of the year today in Lausanne, the Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has selected India to host the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup (13-29 January 2023) and Spain and the Netherlands to co-host the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup (1-17 July 2022).

The venues will be announced by the host nations.

The schedule of the 2022 FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup will be as follows:

Preliminary Phase:

- 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

The competition format of the 2023 FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup will be the same as in 2018.

FIH CEO 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.”

Commenting on the organization of the FIH Hockey World Cups, he added: “We will work closely with the Local Organizing Committees on the sustainability and legacy aspects of these events.”

India will automatically be qualifying to the World Cup as they will be the host nation. Besides, the winners of the Continental Championships will qualify directly (5 teams). The remaining 10 teams will qualify through a home-and-away play-off; the 20 teams involved in these qualifiers will be determined by Continental quotas, based on the FIH World Rankings at the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the finishing positions of teams in the Continental Championships