India included in new global hockey league

MUMBAI: The India men and women’s hockey teams have been shortlisted for a new global league to be played on home and away basis from January 2019.

Named the Hockey Pro League, this unique league will see nine best men’s and women’s teams from around the world playing each other both at home and away every year, across a total of 144 one-off matches. “The fixtures will take place in national stadiums, week in, week out, from January to June,” the international hockey federation (FIH) announced in a release on Sunday.

The women’s event will involve besides India, Argentina, Australia, China, England/ Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and USA.

The men’s teams were confirmed as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England/Great Britain, Germany, India, Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan, who will host their ‘home’ matches at Glasgow, Scotland, because of the prevailing security conditions in the country.

The nine teams were selected following “an extremely competitive candidate evaluation process which saw 13 men’s and 12 women’s applications submitted by national associations,” the FIH release said.

Teams that did not make the final selection for the men’s League were Ireland, Malaysia and Spain, whilst those not chosen for the women’s League were Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Spain.

The FIH had announced the new home-and-away league last year to replace the final rounds (3rd and 4th) of the Hockey World League and the annual Champions Trophy, the prestigious competition involving the top six finishers in the preceding year’s Olympics or World Cup.