Spain to host series of FIH tournaments in 2024

Spain will host a series of FIH events, including one of the Olympic Qualifiers, both for men and women, and also the 2024 Nations Cup for women.

China will also host one of the Olympic Qualifiers for women while the second nation to host Olympic Qualifiers for men would be announced later.

These are some of the decisions taken by the Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation at its meeting held in Lausanne on Tuesday.

The Board announced that it would shortly announce the name of the hosts for the Nations Cup for men.

The Executive Board (EB), which met under the chairmanship of FIH President Tayyab Ikram, at the Olympic House in Lausanne also launched the new FIH Empowerment and Engagement strategy in attendance of the IOC President Thomas Bach.

Beyond the strategy launch, the EB took a number of other important decisions, including the global hockey calendar will now be established for a period of 4 years and published every year in October.

The EB also decided that the global consultation process among all hockey stakeholders around the penalty corner, launched by FIH last year, will continue.

A Junior World Ranking will be introduced and the EB  also decided to amend the players’ kit rule in order to enable athletes to wear skirts,  or shorts, at their convenience; the only condition is that they should be of the same colour and design.

Another important decision was about the structure of the FIH Athletes Committee. Its new structure  will improve the communication flow between athletes around the world and give a greater opportunity to athletes for participating in administrative decision-making; the Committee will be made up of 10 members, with 2 members appointed by each Continental Federation.

The EB members also received invaluable information from IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper, IOC Sports Director Kit McConnell, IOC Athletes Department Director Kaveh Mehrabi and IOC Associate Director, Athletes and Sport Development Division Olivier Niamkey.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “Cooperation between the International Hockey Federation and IOC is better than ever. From the IOC’s point of view, there is a fresh wind of innovation and a forward looking approach within the Federation which is in line with IOC’s Olympic Agenda and Olympic Agenda plus 5. We both want to make sport a leading force in the new world that is emerging. In this goal we continue to have a strong and reliable partner in the FIH. The FIH Empowerment and Engagement strategy is impressive. It really focuses on the future development of hockey. I’m particularly pleased to see that it puts athletes in the centre.”

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Hockey Associations of India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, England, Spain, Malaysia, Australia, Belgium and Germany.

Prabhjot Singh