The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has opted to reopen the bidding process for the next editions of its men’s and women’s World Cups after more national associations expressed an interest in hosting the event.
Some of the previous bidders have also decided to change their initial bid to host the other gender event and as a result the process will now run until the end of September.
Interested countries had been required to submit their interest by January 31 and indicate whether they would prefer to host a tournament from July 1-17, 2022 or January 13-29, 2023.
So far, the FIH has received a bid from Germany to host either the men’s or women’s World Cup during the preferred time window of July 1-17, 2022. Malaysia and Spain have also expressed an interest in hosting the men’s event during this period.
For the preferred time window of January 13-29, 2023, India has submitted a bid for the men’s or women’s World Cup, while New Zealand is bidding for the women’s event. Australia had been interested in staging the 2023 women’s event but has withdrawn its bid, the FIH confirmed.
A final decision on both hosts will be made during the FIH Executive Board’s next meeting on November 8-9 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
FIH chief executive Thierry Weil said: “It’s really encouraging that additional national associations have signalled their interest in bidding. Since there was no issue at all in reopening the bidding process at this point in time, the Executive Board has logically taken this decision. Meanwhile the evaluation process of all bids already received continues.”
The 2018 men’s and women’s World Cups were held in India and England, respectively.
