Belgium, Netherlands will co-host the 2026 Women’s and Men’s World Hockey Championships.© FIH
Belgium and the Netherlands will simultaneously host the women’s and men’s hockey world championships in 2026, the competition’s governing body, FIH, said Friday. The decision was taken during the virtual meeting of the Board of Directors chaired by FIH Acting President Seif Ahmed. “The combined event will take place in July or August 2026 in Amsterdam/Amstelveen, the Netherlands and Wavre, Belgium, with female and male teams playing at both locations,” the International Hockey Federation said in a statement.
Commenting on the decision, Thierry Weil, CEO of FIH, said: “On behalf of the FIH, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the National Associations who have made bids.
“We received excellent proposals and it was therefore a particularly challenging task to decide.
“We are very much looking forward to working with respectively the national associations of the current World and Men’s World and Olympic champions, the Netherlands and Belgium, who will undoubtedly put together outstanding World Cups.” The Executive Board has received an extensive report on the finances of the FIH. Due to additional income and lower expenses, the final operating result for 2022 is expected to be higher than the budgeted amount. The operational result of the FIH Hockey Pro League is also positive.
The budget for 2023 has been approved by the Executive Board. The expected financial result of the FIH is an operating gain, largely due to the upcoming FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in India.
The EB has also confirmed that the winners of the FIH Hockey Pro League in Season 5 (2023/2024) and Season 6 (2024/2025) will qualify directly for the 2026 FIH Men’s and Women’s World Cups.
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If the Season 6 winner has already qualified in Season 5, the runner-up in Season 6 will be offered the direct qualifying place.
The next meeting of the FIH Board of Directors will be held on January 28 next year.
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