League points will stick around: Why opening games are crucial at Hockey World Cup
The FIH Men’s and Women’s Hockey World Cups are adopting a new three-stage format where points from the opening league phase carry over to subsequent rounds. India's chief coach Craig Fulton emphasized the importance of securing early points to ensure a path to the quarterfinals.
Why it matters
The change in tournament structure significantly alters team strategy and the stakes of early-round matches in international field hockey.
The upcoming FIH Men’s and Women’s World Cups in Belgium and the Netherlands will be played under a new three-stage format, making the league phase even more crucial as points earned in the opening round will be carried forward to the next stage. That is, the result achieved against a team played in the league counts for the final ranking in the new pool in the next phase.Explaining the new format, India chief coach Craig Fulton said, “It’s an interesting one. It gives everyone that opportunity to eye a quarterfinal berth. It’s massively important that we amass however many points we can in the league.”HERE’S HOW THE NEW FORMAT WORKS:FIRST ROUNDThe 16 teams will be divided equally into four pools — A, B, C and D.
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