Pro League champions to get World Cup, Olympic berths
The international hockey federation (FIH) on Friday said that the men’s and women’s Pro League winners from Season 5 onwards will get direct qualification for the World Cup and Olympic Games.
While the winners of Season 5 (2023-24) and 6 (2024-25) will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, the champions of Season 7 (2025-26) and 8 (2026-27) and will earn a berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The fourth season (2022-23) of the men’s Pro League will get underway on October 28 while the women’s tournament will commence on November 4. The FIH have also introduced promotion and relegation in the Pro League with the last-placed team to be relegated to a new competition called FIH Nations Cup with the winners of the Nation Cup promoted to the Pro League.
“This gives the Pro League a real meaning when you have direct qualification (to World Cups and Olympics), relegation and promotion. This season is quite important as we will start in Season 5 promotion and relegation. That would mean that the team that ends last in Season 4 will be relegated to this new competition,” FIH CEO Thierry Weil said in a video conference.
“The top team of the Nations Cup in both men and women will be promoted to the Pro League. This will keep the Pro League interesting until the end. If you have a promotion and specifically relegation, until the last match you will make sure you are not relegated.”
The maiden men’s eight-team Nations Cup will be held in Potchefstroom, South Africa from November 28 to December 4 while the women’s edition will be held in Valencia from December 10-17.
Weil also assured that qualification from continental events like the Asia Cup or Asian Games will continue to exist as earlier.
HIL dates
Weil also added that the newly elected Executive Board (EB) of Hockey India (HI) had reached out to the FIH regarding resuming the Hockey India League (HIL) that became defunct after the fifth season concluded in 2017.
“I got a communication from the new HI president (Dilip Tirkey), who is also a former player, 2-3 days back. This is a really good step that HI wants to reintroduce HIL. They have asked (us) to look into the international calendar on when they can plan their league so that it is not interfering or clashing with other important tournaments,” said Weil.
“We are on the way to look into the calendar and I am sure soon we will have discussions together with HI to see what would be the best period for HIL. It is really good that HI is looking to have a men’s league and also a women’s league, most probably in a smaller format which is not decided yet.”
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