England & India to host Hockey World Cups 2018
Women’s event heading to England, men’s tournament destined for India
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to announce that England and India will host the Hockey World Cups in 2018. England Hockey were successful in their bid to host the women’s showpiece, with Hockey India winning the race to host the men’s equivalent.
The announcements were made by FIH President Leandro Negre at a special ceremony at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday evening.
“I wish to offer my sincere congratulations to England Hockey and Hockey India on their successful bids to host the Hockey World Cups 2018”, said Mr Negre. “The quality of both bids was truly extraordinary, and the FIH is greatly looking forward to bringing its top properties to England and India. I would also like to congratulate all of the National Associations that submitted bids for these events. The standard was exceptionally high, making the decision extremely hard for the FIH Executive Board.”
Alongside the Olympic Games, the Hockey World Cups are the most coveted, cherished prizes in Hockey. Held every four years, they bring together the world’s greatest teams and most skilful players for the toughest, most competitive international hockey event imaginable.
The women’s tournament in England is scheduled to take place from 7-21 July 2018, with the men’s event in India planned for 1-16 December 2018.
Both the Men’s and Women’s Hockey World Cups 2018 will feature an increased 16-nation field of participants, confirming the growing interest and development of the sport. Next year’s hugely anticipated Rabobank Hockey World Cup, which takes place in The Hague, Netherlands during the first two weeks of June, will see twelve men’s and twelve women’s teams competing in a mammoth double event.
“The decision certainly was not an easy one to make”, said FIH Chief Executive Officer Kelly Fairweather, reflecting on the bidding process. “All of the bids that we received were exceptional, being completely in line with our strategy to deliver the most entertaining, exciting and inspiring hockey events in the world. The FIH Executive Board were hugely impressed by the bids from England Hockey and Hockey India, and are convinced that both National Associations will deliver absolutely magnificent tournaments.”
The FIH has been meticulous in its approach to choosing the hosts for the 2018 showpiece events. As part of the bidding process, the FIH requested that bid questionnaires were submitted before a deadline of 31 August.
The second phase of the process saw each bid evaluated in detail, as well as further discussions, clarifications, site visits and negotiations taking place with the respective National Associations. The final decision was made by the FIH Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland on Thursday, bringing the process to an end by naming England and India as the host nations of hockey’s top properties.
The World Cup hosts’ announcement is part of FIH’s new event assignment process, which was launched and presented to the National Associations at the FIH Congress in November 2012. The re-structured bidding process was designed to ensure that the majority of the unallocated events for the 2015-2018 period would be assigned before the end of this year. The FIH will make an announcement about the host nations of these events in due course.