TOUGH FIGHT TO HOST 2018 WORLD CUP

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is pleased to announce that in its meeting on Saturday, the FIH Executive Board confirmed the shortlist of applicants for the Hockey World Cups 2018 to include Australia, Belgium, England, India, Malaysia and New Zealand.

The expressions of interest received for the World Cups were part of the larger Event Assignment Process launched by FIH at the FIH Congress in November 2012 to assign the unallocated events for the period of 2014 to 2018 before the end of this year.

Aside from excellent interest in the World Cups, there was also an enthusiastic response for a number of other events, like the Hockey Junior World Cups 2017 and a new type of “Champions Event”, but particularly for the Hockey World League Semi-Final events which will serve as the main Olympic qualifying event in 2015 and the main World Cup qualifying event in 2017.

Of the applicants shortlisted for the World Cup, Australia, England, India and Malaysia have previous experience hosting hockey's pinnacle event, with India having hosted the latest men's edition only three years ago.

Belgium and New Zealand are new to bidding for the World Cup but have both successfully hosted international events in recent years, such as last year's Women's Olympic Qualifier and the Men's Champions Trophy 2011 respectively.

Both the Men's and Women's Hockey World Cups 2018 will feature an increased 16-nation field of participants confirming the growing interest and development of the sport. Next year's highly anticipated Rabobank Hockey World Cup, taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, during the first two weeks of June, will see twelve men's and twelve women's teams compete in a joint tournament.

FIH President Leandro Negre commented, "The high interest to host by our Member Associations, especially for the World Cup, is extremely encouraging and we are very happy with the positive reaction to the FIH's new event assignment process. This successful first phase reaffirms our efforts to develop and strengthen our event brands and confirms the FIH's choice to select hosts much further in advance than previously."

In the next step of the process, all Hockey World Cup applicants will receive detailed event and bidding documentation and participate in a one day workshop on 7 May in Lausanne to allow them to prepare their bids in advance of the 31 August 2013 submission deadline.

On 8 November 2013, the FIH will announce the hosts, venues and dates of the Hockey World Cups 2018.

The shortlist of applicants for the Hockey World Cups 2018 consists of the following National Associations:

Australia (Men and/or Women)
Belgium (Men and/or Women)
England (Women)
India (Men)
Malaysia (Men)
New Zealand (Men and/or Women)