Hockey World Cup 2023: Teams, schedule, venues and everything one must know

The Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 is only days away and thus it dawns upon us that one must know what exactly is the event going to be like. We find out

Hockey, the word itself connects India and Indians so much that every time there is a big event, the hopes get high and the tales of the glorious days are told a thousand times. Be it the Olympics, Commonwealth Games or Asian Games, Indian hockey has performed tremendously well, though not in the recent past. But World Cup still remains a fort that has not been fully conquered by the Indians. The same World Cup is here once again and after a gap of five years, India is ready to host it again. 

First time in history

It is for the first in the history of hockey World Cups that one nation has got the hosting rights back to back. India, which hosted the event in 2018, will host it again, only this time around, there would be two venues, instead of just one. 

Hockey World Cup 2023 venues

Odisha, which has now become synonymous with Indian hockey will be hosting the event once again. While in 2018 only Kalinga Stadium of Bhubaneshwar was the host, this time around, Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, the largest hockey stadium in the world in terms of seating capacity, will also host the matches. It is situated in the steel city Rourkela. 

While Bhubneshwar will host 24 games including all the quarterfinals, semi-finals and final, 20 matches will be held in Rourkela which will include the group matches and the 9-12th and 13-16th place classification matches. 

Hockey World Cup 2023 Teams

In the 44 matches, that will be played across the World Cup, 16 teams will compete for the shining World Cup trophy. Due to the Olympics being shifted to 2021, the qualification process for the Hockey World Cup 2023 was changed. All the slots for the World Cup were given through continental championships. 

Accordingly, Europe got seven quotas, Asia got four, both the Americas combined got two and so did Oceania while Africa got a single quota. 

Among the seven teams from Europe, the Netherlands (Champions), Germany (Runners-Up), Belgium (Third place finish), England (4th place finish) and Spain (fifth-place finish) qualified through Euro Hockey Championship 2021. France and Wales qualified as the remaining two teams through Euro Hockey Championship II, 2021. 

Oceania Cup was not held in 2021 and eventually, two top-ranked sides, Australi and New Zealand qualified from that region. 

Among the Asian qualifiers, India qualified as hosts and therefore its quota of a third-place finish in the World Cup went to the fourth-placed side in the Asia Cup, Japan. Thus, South Korea (Winners), Malaysia (Runners-Up) and Japan qualified through Asia Cup quotas. Pakistan, who have won the World Cup most (four times), failed to qualify once again after they did it the first time in 2014. The Pakistani side could not finish in the top four of the Asia Cup. 

South Africa won the Africa Cup of Nations 2022 held in Ghana. In the final, it beat Egypt in a penalty shoot-out. 

Held in Santiago Chile, the Pan American Cup gave chance to Argentina and the hosts Chile to qualify as the top two teams. Canada and USA finished in third and fourth place respectively in the tournament.

Hockey World Cup 2023 Groups

The 16 teams have been divided into four groups which would have four teams each. Here are the groups 

Group A 

Australia

Argentina

France

South Africa

 

Group B

Belgium

Germany

South Korea

Japan

 

Group C

Netherlands

New Zealand

Malaysia

Chile

 

Group D

India

England

Spain

Wales

Hockey World Cup 2023 Format

Now that the teams are divided into four groups, the group topper would move to the quarterfinal directly, while the teams finishing at number two and three would qualify for crossovers. 

What are crossovers?

Crossovers are a chance for even the team which finishes in third place in the group to qualify for the quarterfinals. The 8 teams which would qualify for the crossovers, would play against each other. For example, the second-placed team in group A would play against the third-placed team in group B. Now the winner of this crossover would meet the group topper of Group D, which qualified for the last eight, by finishing at the top of its group.