Hockey World Cup : Belgium and the Netherlands will host the 2026 FIH Hockey Women’s and Men’s World Cups in tandem, as decided by the FIH Executive Board, which met electronically on the eve of the opening of the 48th FIH Congress under the leadership of FIH Acting President Seif Ahmed.
In July or August of 2026, both men’s and women’s teams will compete in the combined tournament in Amsterdam/Amstelveen, Netherlands and Wavre, Belgium.
The EB has taken into account a number of factors when making its decision, including the proposed match schedule (which would have either a Belgian or Dutch team play every day to ensure that the venues would be full every day), the particularly solid financial foundation of this bid (including the support of the host broadcasters), and the performance and welfare of the athletes.
2026 FIH Hockey World Cup
The CEO of the FIH, Thierry Weil, issued the following statement in response to the verdict: “On behalf of the FIH, I would like to thank warmly all National Associations who filed a proposal. The offers were all high-quality, so making a choice was difficult. We are excited to collaborate with the Netherlands and Belgium, the current women’s and men’s World and Olympic Champions, to organize fantastic World Cups.
The EB also got a full report on the FIH’s financial situation. Operational profit for 2022 is projected to be more than the targeted 500k CHF thanks to increased revenue and decreased expenditures. For season 3 (2021-22), the operational result of the FIH Hockey Pro League is positive by 129k, and for season 4 (2023-23), it is anticipated to amount to at least 150k (2022-23).
The EB has given its stamp of approval to the 2023 spending plan. In large part because of the approaching FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in India, the FIH expects a financial outcome of an operating profit of 1m CHF (including 150k profit from the FIH Hockey Pro League).
The financial results of the FIH Hockey Pro League, which began with losses of $750,000 in 2018 (season 0) and $3.5 million in 2019 (season 1) and improved to losses of $124,000 in season 2, gains of $129,000 in season 3, and a profit of $150,000 in season 4, confirm the league’s positive financial trajectory. Therefore, despite the Covid-19 epidemic and the cancellation of 35% of the matches! in 2018 and 2019, the Pro League’s finances stayed constant in 2020 and 2021 and will continue to do so in 2022 and 2023, when the prediction is, as noted above, favorable.
Additionally, the EB has determined that the audited accounts would henceforth be published yearly, rather than after their ratification by the bi-annual Congress as is presently the case.
The EB also announced that the men’s and women’s FIH Hockey Pro League champions of the next fifth (2023/2024) and sixth (2024/2025) seasons would automatically qualify for the 2026 FIH World Cups. If Season 6’s champion has already qualified for the following year, the runner-up will be granted the spot.
Since Seif Ahmed, President of the African Hockey Federation (AfHF), is also the Acting President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), the AfHF’s current Acting President, Nii Quaye-Kumah (Ghana), was present at today’s FIH EB meeting. The FIH Board of Directors will meet next on January 28th, 2023.
The 48th FIH Congress will be held online on November 4 and 5.
