AHF: With its first ever Hockey5s World Cup, FIH opens a new era for hockey’s development

04 January, 2024

The FIH Hockey5s World Cup Oman 2024 begins on 24 January. With new competing nations and a format never associated with a World Cup so far, the event ushers in a new era for international hockey. The inaugural edition of the Hockey5s World Cup will see participation from across the globe with 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams, from across 5 continents, competing for the title of the first ever Hockey5s World Champions.

Muscat will provide a picturesque backdrop as the women’s competition will begin the proceedings, starting from 24 January, with the finals to be played on 27 January. The men’s competition will begin right after, starting on 28 January, with the medal matches slated for 31 January.

The teams were all placed into their respective pools during the draw ceremony, held on 3 September 2023:

Women:

Pool A: Fiji, Malaysia, Netherlands, Oman

Pool B: Australia, South Africa, Ukraine, Zambia

Pool C: India, Namibia, Poland, United States

Pool D: New Zealand, Paraguay, Thailand, Uruguay

Men:

Pool A: Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland

Pool B: Egypt, India, Jamaica, Switzerland

Pool C: Australia, Kenya, New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago

Pool D: Fiji, Malaysia, Oman, United States

At the end of the pool stage, the two top teams in each pool will proceed to the quarterfinals and stay in the hunt for the title of the first ever Hockey5s World Champions.

The bottom two teams however will play for the new ‘Challenger Trophy’ introduced upon an initiative from FIH President Tayyab Ikram, as a sign of encouragement for all teams. With six nations playing their first ever FIH World Cup – Fiji, Jamaica, Oman, Paraguay, Thailand, Zambia -, the additional silverware will keep all 16 teams in the hunt for success, even if they can’t make it into the quarterfinals of the event.

The FIH Hockey5s World Cup will begin on 24 January at 08:00 local time, as Australia take on Ukraine in the opening encounter of the women’s competition. There will be 15 more matches from the Women’s World Cup on opening day, as all 16 teams will play two of their pool matches on day 1.

All information about the event, including teams, schedule, ticketing or venue, can be found here.

All matches from the FIH Hockey5s World Cup Oman 2024 will be streamed live (and available on-demand) on the Watch.Hockey app*. Fans can purchase the FIH+ Pass on Watch.Hockey to have access to all matches*.

*except on the Indian subcontinent

Source: fih.hockey