FIH Hockey Nations Cup from May 31

ISLAMABAD (APP): With just less than a month away from the second edition of the FIH Hockey Nations Cup, the men’s tournament would be played in Gniezno, Poland from May 31 to June 9 while the action runs from June 3 to 9 in the women’s competition to be played at Terrassa, Spain.

Pakistan, Austria, Canada, France, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and South Africa would join hosts Poland in competing at the men’s tournament, said a press release.

Canada, Chile, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea and New Zealand would join hosts Spain in competing for the top spot in the women’s tournament. As in the previous edition, the prize for finishing at the top of the standings in the competition is not just the gold medal, but also the opportunity to be promoted to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25.

The FIH Hockey Nations Cups would be contested between 9 teams in the men’s competition and 8 teams in the women’s competition. The teams have been split into two Pools of 5 and 4 teams in the men’s competition and two equal pools of 4 teams each in the women’s competition.

Each team will face the other teams in their Pool once in the group stage. At the end of the group stage, the top two teams from each pool would make it to the semi-finals, with the remaining teams playing in the classification matches.

The winning teams from the FIH Hockey Nations Cup, would have the opportunity to play in the FIH Hockey Pro League for the 2024-25 season, where they will replace the teams that finish in the last position in the 2023-24 season of the FIH Hockey Pro League.