2026 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup
Ongoing field hockey competition
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The 2026 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup is the 16th edition of the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national field hockey teams organized by the International Hockey Federation. It is being held from 15 to 30 August 2026 in Wavre, Belgium and Amstelveen, Netherlands.
Host countriesBelgium
Netherlands
Netherlands
CitiesWavre
Amstelveen
Amstelveen
Dates15–30 August
Teams16 (from 5 confederations)
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| Tournament details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Host countries | Belgium Netherlands | ||
| Cities | Wavre Amstelveen | ||
| Dates | 15–30 August | ||
| Teams | 16 (from 5 confederations) | ||
| Venue | 2 (in 2 host cities) | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Matches played | 45 | ||
| Goals scored | 241 (5.36 per match) | ||
| Top scorer |  Tomás Domene (8 goals) | ||
All statistics are correct as of 28 August 2026
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Belgium and Netherlands were given the hosting rights in November 2022, beating a joint bid from England and Wales as well as a South African bid in the process. This is the first time the men's event is co-hosted. This also marks Belgium's first and Netherlands' fourth time hosting. This is also the first time the men's and women's world cup are held as one joint tournament.
16 teams are participating for the third time after the expansion in 2018. Qualification was an amalgamation of the FIH Pro League, continental championships and the World Cup Qualifiers. Qualification took place from December 2023 to March 2026 to decide the qualifiers.
Germany are the defending champions having defeated Belgium 5–4 in a shootout after the match finished 3–3 in regular time in Bhubaneswar.
Host selection
The International Hockey Federation announced on 15 June 2022 that they received the following five bids for the 2026 World Cup:[1][2]
England (in partnership with 
Wales)
Germany (Withdrew)
South Africa
For men's and women's event
Wavre, Belgium and Amstelveen, Netherlands were awarded the hosting rights on 3 November 2022.[3]
Teams
Qualification
Just as in 2018 and 2023, 16 teams are competing in the tournament. Alongside hosts, Belgium and Netherlands, the top-ranked team in the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons in the FIH Pro League and the five continental champions received an automatic berth. Then 16 teams from all over the five continents competed for the last seven places at the World Cup Qualifiers.[4][5][6] Of the qualified teams, 14 took part in the previous edition.
Returnees
Absentees
- Chile and South Korea didn't advance after making a sporadic appearance in 2023.
The highest ranked team to not qualify was Scotland, ranked 17th, while the lowest ranked team to qualify was Japan, ranked 16th.
| Dates | Event | Location | Quotas | Qualifier(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 November 2022 | Hosts | N/a | 2 |  Belgium Netherlands |
| 6 December 2023 – 30 June 2024 | 2023–24 FIH Pro League | N/a | 1 |  Australia |
| 30 November 2024 – 29 June 2025 | 2024–25 FIH Pro League | N/a | 1 |  Spain |
| 24 July – 3 August 2025 | 2025 Pan American Cup |  Montevideo |
1 | Argentina |
| 8–16 August 2025 | 2025 EuroHockey Championship |  Mönchengladbach |
1 | Germany |
| 29 August – 7 September 2025 | 2025 Asia Cup |  Rajgir |
1 | India |
| 4–7 September 2025 | 2025 Oceania Cup | Darwin |
1 |  New Zealand |
| 11–18 October 2025 | 2025 Africa Cup of Nations |  Ismailia |
1 |  South Africa |
| 1–7 March 2026 | 2026 World Cup Qualifiers | Ismailia |
4 |  England Japan Malaysia Pakistan |
| 1–8 March 2026 |  Santiago |
3 |  France Ireland Wales | |
| Total | 16 | |||
Summary of qualified teams
| Team | Qualification method | Date of qualification | Appearance(s) | Previous best performance[A] | WR[B] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | First | Last | Streak | |||||
| Belgium |
Co-hosts | 3 November 2022 | 8th | 1973 | 2023 | 4 | Champions (2018) | 1 |
| Netherlands |
16th | 1971 | 16 | Champions (1973, 1990, 1998) | 2 | |||
| Australia |
2023–24 FIH Pro League | 23 June 2024 | 15th | 14 | Champions (1986, 2010, 2014) | 4 | ||
| Spain |
2024–25 FIH Pro League | 29 June 2025 | 16th | 16 | Runners-up (1971, 1998) | 6 | ||
| Argentina |
2025 Pan American Cup | 3 August 2025 | 15th | 7 | Third place (2014) | 7 | ||
| Germany |
2025 EuroHockey Championship | 14 August 2025 | 16th | 16 | Champions (2002, 2006, 2023) | 5 | ||
| India |
2025 Asia Cup | 7 September 2025 | 16th | 16 | Champions (1975) | 8 | ||
| New Zealand |
2025 Oceania Cup | 12th | 8 | Seventh place (1973, 1975, 1982, 2014, 2023) | 11 | |||
| South Africa |
2025 Africa Cup of Nations | 18 October 2025 | 8th | 1994 | 7 | Tenth place (1994, 2010) | 13 | |
| England |
2026 World Cup Qualifiers | 6 March 2026 | 15th | 1973 | 15 | Runners-up (1986) | 3 | |
| Pakistan |
14th | 1971 | 2018 | 1 | Champions (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994) | 12 | ||
| France |
5th | 1971 | 2023 | 3 | Seventh place (1971, 1990) | 9 | ||
| Ireland |
4th | 1978 | 2018 | 1 | Twelfth place (1978, 1990) | 10 | ||
| Japan |
7 March 2026 | 6th | 1971 | 2023 | 2 | Ninth place (1971, 2006) | 16 | |
| Malaysia |
10th | 1973 | 4 | Fourth place (1975) | 14 | |||
| Wales |
8 March 2026 | 2nd | 2023 | 2 | Eleventh place (2023) | 15 | ||
Venues
The Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre was renovated during the preparations for the tournament. The venue was completed in early 2026 and has a 4,000 capacity that was expanded to 10,000 for the tournament.[7] The Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen is 8,000 but was also expanded to 10,000 for the event.[8]
| Amstelveen |
Wavre | |
|---|---|---|
| Wagener Stadium | Belfius Hockey Arena | |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 10,000 | |
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Draw
The final draw took place at 15:00 CET on 17 March 2026 at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands.[9][10] Model and presenter, Joyce Colfs, hosted the draw. Field Hockey players, Naomi van As, Barbara Nelen and Teun de Nooijer, alongside Dutch rapper La Fuente, were the guests who assisted the draw. The draw started with the co-hosts being placed into their respective groups held in their country, as well as the two remaining pot 1 teams, Australia and England, being pre-drawn into groups C and D respectively. The draw continued with, in order, pots 4, 3 and 2 being drawn, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. There were no restrictions.
| 2026 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup – Draw | |
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 Draw Live Stream (log in required) |
Seeding
| Team |
|---|
| Netherlands (H) |
| Belgium (H) |
| Australia |
| England |
| Team |
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| Ireland |
| France |
| New Zealand |
| Pakistan |
| Team |
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| South Africa |
| Japan |
| Malaysia |
| Wales |
Draw
| Pos | Team |
|---|---|
| A1 | Netherlands (H) |
| A2 | Argentina |
| A3 | New Zealand |
| A4 | Japan |
| Pos | Team |
|---|---|
| C1 | Australia |
| C2 | Spain |
| C3 | Ireland |
| C4 | South Africa |
Schedule
| Schedule | ||
|---|---|---|
| Round | Gameday | Date |
| Preliminary round | Gameday 1 | 15–16 August 2026 |
| Gameday 2 | 17–18 August 2026 | |
| Gameday 3 | 19–20 August 2026 | |
| Second round Classification round | ||
| Gameday 4 | 21–22 August 2026 | |
| Gameday 5 | 23–24 August 2026 | |
| Knockout stage | ||
| Semi-finals Placement games |
28 August 2026 | |
| Final | 30 August 2026 | |
Umpires
On 20 January 2026, 16 umpires were appointed by the FIH for this tournament.[11][12]
- Gabriel Labate (ARG)
- Zeke Newman (AUS)
- Steve Rogers (AUS)
- Tyler Klenk (CAN)
- Dan Barstow (ENG)
- Sean Edwards (ENG)
- Ben Göntgen (GER)
- Rawi Anbananthan (MAS)
- Coen van Bunge (NED)
- Jonas van't Hek (NED)
- Michiel Otten (NED)
- Gareth Greenfield (NZL)
- Lim Hong-Zhen (SGP)
- Darren Hubach (RSA)
- Sean Rapaport (RSA)
- You Hyo-sik (KOR)
Squads
First round
The hosts schedule was published on 30 September 2025.[13] The match schedule was revealed on 18 March 2026.[14]
All times are local (UTC+2).
Pool A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands (H) |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 9 | Second round |
| 2 | Argentina |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 4 | +7 | 6 | |
| 3 | New Zealand |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | −8 | 3 | 9th–16th classification |
| 4 | Japan |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
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Pool B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 7 | Second round |
| 2 | Belgium (H) |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | France |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 2 | 9th–16th classification |
| 4 | Malaysia |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 1 |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
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Pool C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | Second round |
| 2 | Spain |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Ireland |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 3 | 9th–16th classification |
| 4 | South Africa |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 1 |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
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Pool D
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 9 | Second round |
| 2 | India |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | Pakistan |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 1 | 9th–16th classification |
| 4 | Wales |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 1 |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
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Second round
Pool E
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands (H) |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 7 | Semifinals |
| 2 | Argentina |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | England |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | Fifth place game |
| 4 | India |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 | −6 | 0 | Seventh place game |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
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Pool F
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 | Semifinals |
| 2 | Spain |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | Australia |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 4 | Fifth place game |
| 4 | Belgium (H) |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 | Seventh place game |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
(H) Hosts
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Classification round
Pool G
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Zealand |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 9 | Ninth place game |
| 2 | Pakistan |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 10 | −1 | 4 | Eleventh place game |
| 3 | Japan |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 3 | 13th place game |
| 4 | Wales |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 1 | 15th place game |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
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Pool H
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ireland |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 6 | Ninth place game |
| 2 | South Africa |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 4 | Eleventh place game |
| 3 | France |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 4 | 13th place game |
| 4 | Malaysia |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 | −3 | 2 | 15th place game |
Source: FIH
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) matches won; 3) goal difference; 4) goals for; 5) head-to-head result; 6) field goals scored.
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15th place match
13th place match
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Eleventh place match
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Ninth place match
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Seventh place match
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Fifth place match
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First to fourth place classification
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | |||||
| 28 August | ||||||
| Netherlands | 3 | |||||
| 30 August | ||||||
| Spain | 4 | |||||
| Spain | ||||||
| 28 August | ||||||
| Winner SF2 | ||||||
| Germany | ||||||
| Argentina | ||||||
| Third place | ||||||
| 30 August | ||||||
| Netherlands | ||||||
| Loser SF2 | ||||||
Semifinals
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Third place match
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Final
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Final ranking
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gold medal | |
| 2 | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Silver medal | |
| 3 | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bronze medal | |
| 4 | TBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Fourth place | |
| 5 | C | Australia |
6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 11 | Fifth place |
| 6 | D | England |
6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 12 | +7 | 10 | |
| 7 | B | Belgium |
6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 9 | Seventh place |
| 8 | D | India |
6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 19 | −2 | 7 | |
| 9 | A | New Zealand |
6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 19 | +2 | 12 | Ninth place |
| 10 | C | Ireland |
6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 19 | −2 | 6 | |
| 11 | D | Pakistan |
6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 23 | −6 | 5 | Eleventh place |
| 12 | C | South Africa |
6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 17 | −3 | 6 | |
| 13 | B | France |
6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 13th place |
| 14 | A | Japan |
6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 18 | −10 | 3 | |
| 15 | D | Wales |
6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 2 | 15th place |
| 16 | B | Malaysia |
6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 25 | −9 | 3 |
Source: FIH
Goalscorers
There have been 241 goals scored in 45 matches, for an average of 5.36 goals per match (as of 28 August 2026).
8 goals
7 goals
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
Bautista Capurro- Nicolás Della Torre
- Lucas Toscani
Roman Duvekot
Ky Willott- Will Calnan
- Sam Ward
Timothée Clément- Louis Haertelmeyer
- Jakob Brilla
- Justus Warweg
Hardik Singh- Sukhjeet Singh
Jeremy Duncan- Alistair Empey
- Matthew Nelson
- Benjamin Walker
Kazumasa Matsumoto
Shello Silverius
Koen Bijen- Thijs van Dam
George Baker- Scott Boyde
- Dylan Thomas
- Finn Ward
Muhammad Hammadudin- Dayaan Cassiem
- Jolyon Morgan
- Sam Welsh
1 goal
- Maico Casella
- Nicolás Keenan
- Tadeo Marcucci
- Lucio Méndez
- Joaquín Toscani
- Tom Craig
- Arthur Van Doren
- Alexander Hendrickx
- Hugo Labouchere
- Nelson Onana
- Arthur De Sloover
- Thibeau Stockbroekx
- James Albery
- Tom Sorsby
- Zachary Wallace
- Eliot Curty
- Mattéo Desgouillons
- Noé Jouin
- Florent Vaal
- Paul-Philipp Kaufmann
- Hugo von Montgelas
- Hannes Müller
- Christopher Rühr
- Michel Struthoff
- Sanjay Rana
- Dilpreet Singh
- Sam Hyland
- John McKee
- Kosei Kawabe
- Kaito Tanaka
- Jun Watanabe
- Hyota Yamada
- Shota Yamada
- Koji Yamasaki
- Azmirul Azahar
- Marhan Jalil
- Azimuddin Kamaruddin
- Aiman Rozemi
- Joep de Mol
- Muhammad Ammad
- Abdul Rehman
- Trevor de Lora
- Kenton Melville
- Nicholas Spooner
- Luke Wynford
Nicolás Álvarez- Pepe Cunill
- Marc Miralles
- Liam Barker
- Rhys Bradshaw
- Jacob Draper
- Benjamin Francis
Source: FIH
