Running from August 15 to 30, the quadrennial tournament will be jointly hosted by the two nations across two venues — the Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre, Belgium, and the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. The 16th edition of the FIH Hockey World Cup will kick off this weekend in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The decisive details
The two qualifiers from a Phase 1 pool will play two additional matches against the two teams from a different Phase 1 pool. Importantly, teams from the same Phase 1 pool will not play against each other in Phase 2. However, the points and results from their Phase 1 match will carry over to the Phase 2 standings. The women’s team will face China on August 16, then South Africa on August 18 and England on August 20. The men’s team will open their campaign against Wales on August 15, face England the very next day on August 16, before a blockbuster clash with long-time rivals Pakistan on August 19.
Here is everything you need to know about the tournament. The World Cup is split into three separate stages. The sixteen teams will be split into four pools (A, B, C, D) of four teams each. They will play three matches each in a round-robin format. The top two teams from pools E and F will qualify for the semifinals. The competition will assume a traditional knockout format. The four teams will play in the semifinals; the winners will play the Final for gold, while the defeated semifinalists will contest the bronze medal match.
The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the second pool stage; the bottom two teams will move to the new “classification stage”.
