Hockey: Now FIH to organise Nations Cup for men, women in 2022
FIH to organise Nations Cup in 2022: Another FIH sponsored tournament is in the offing. Now the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided to start an annual tournament, both for men and women, for the teams not competing in the FIH Hockey Pro League.
Christened as the Nations Cup, the tournament to be played in 2022 for the first time, will have eight teams in each of the men and women sections. Invitations will be extended to the nations on the basis of the FIH rankings. For the inaugural event, the FIH rankings on May 31, 2021, will be taken into consideration.
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Though dates of the FIH Nations Cup 2022 have not been finalized they will be in consultation with other International and Continental Sports Federations. In 2022 among others, Asian Games are to be held.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has now launched the bidding process for hosting the inaugural FIH Nations Cup. Interestingly, the bidding process will be limited to the nations eligible to play in it.
The aim of this new yearly event is to offer a top-level competition to the best-ranked teams not participating in the FIH Hockey Pro League and give the winners the option to be promoted to the FIH Hockey Pro League the next season, precisely.
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The FIH Nations Cup also marks the start of the promotion-relegation principle for the FIH Hockey Pro League. Indeed, both FIH Nations Cup winners will have the chance to be promoted to the 2023/24 FIH Hockey Pro League (provided they meet the necessary requirements for it).
Since participation in the FIH Nations Cup is conditioned by each team’s position in the FIH World Rankings, the bidding process to host the event is only open to the National Associations of the relevant teams. And since the FIH World Rankings may evolve between now and May next year, the bidding dossier has been sent to 10 – instead of 8 – National Associations per gender, as follows:
Men: Canada (10*); Malaysia (11); France (12); Ireland (13); South Africa (14); Japan (15); Korea (16); Pakistan (17); Austria (20); Egypt (21)
Women: Spain (7); Ireland (8); India (9); Korea (11); Japan (13); Canada (14); South Africa (16); Italy (17); Chile (18); Russia (19)
FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “The FIH Nations Cup 2022 is a welcome addition to our events’ portfolio. It will enable to apply the promotion-relegation principle to the FIH Hockey Pro League. Like for most other leagues, this will generate even more excitement for the competition. It will also give other nations who haven’t yet had the opportunity to join the Pro League to do so and this is only fair! And it will help grow hockey in further countries.”
The deadline for submitting the bids is 31 March 2021.
-PTC News
