FIH reworks WC qualifying format

For the 2023 Men’s World Cup to be hosted by India, Asia got three slots, including one for hosts; Europe bagged four, Oceania two while Africa and PanAm have one each, the FIH informed in a press release on Tuesday.

The international hockey federation (FIH) has changed the qualification programme for the 2022/23 World Cups, giving more weightage to the Continental Championships.

A field hockey stick hits the ball (Getty Images)

This has resulted in both Asia and Europe getting more direct berths, with Oceania too getting an extra spot. In the old format, only the five Continental Championship winners got a direct berths besides the hosts and rest had to go through the qualifying programme. In all 11 of the total 16 teams, including hosts, will qualify through Continental Championships.

For the 2023 Men’s World Cup to be hosted by India, Asia got three slots, including one for hosts; Europe bagged four, Oceania two while Africa and PanAm have one each, the FIH informed in a press release on Tuesday.

For the 2022 women’s world cup to be hosted by the Netherlands and Spain, Europe got four quota places including the co-hosts; while Asia, Oceania and Pan America got two slots each while Africa has one.

The remaining five slots in each section will be filled through a series of qualification events in March 2022.

Interestingly, the FIH Pro League, from which four teams had made it to the final qualifying tournaments for the Tokyo Olympics, has not been included in the qualifying process.