The FIH has confirmed a new format for the 2026 Hockey World Cup, jointly hosted by the Netherlands and Belgium from August 15-30, 2026, removing the quarterfinal stage that featured in the previous two editions. Sixteen teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions will be split into four pools of four, with the top two progressing to a Second Stage rather than a knockout quarterfinal. The Indian men’s team has been drawn in Pool D with England, Pakistan and Wales, while the Indian women’s team faces China, England and South Africa in their pool. The women’s final is scheduled for Amsterdam on August 29, with the men’s final in Wavre a day later.
For a tournament that has long prized the drama of a straight knockout, the decision to strip out the quarterfinal stage marks the most significant structural change to the Hockey World Cup in years. It rewards consistency over the pool phase rather than a single knockout leap, and it has already divided opinion among those tasked with navigating it.
A Format Built on Carrying Points Forward
Netherlands and Belgium: Under the new system, each of the four pools — A, B, C and D — will play a standard round-robin of three matches. The bottom two sides in each pool are eliminated from title contention and instead enter a Classification Stage, competing in new Pools G and H for finishes between 9th and 16th place. It is the top two finishers from each initial pool who carry any real weight forward, both in terms of qualification and, crucially, results.
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That is because the format does not reset matches to zero once teams reach the Second Stage. Winners and runners-up from Pool A and Pool D combine to form new Pool E, while those from Pool B and Pool C form new Pool F. Any result already recorded between two teams that meet again in the same Second Stage pool — because they were drawn together in the original pool phase — carries forward and counts toward the final standings. Two further matches then follow against the remaining sides in the new pool, before the top two from Pool E and Pool F advance to the semifinals.
India’s Pool Draw Raises the Stakes Early
The implications of this system are not lost on India, whose men’s team have been drawn alongside England, Pakistan and Wales in Pool D. Should India or one of their pool rivals progress to the Second Stage, they will be grouped with the top two sides from Pool A — and any result recorded against a fellow Pool D side who also advances will follow them into that group. In effect, the pool phase now functions as an extended qualifying process where a single result can shape a team’s semifinal path weeks in advance.
The Indian women’s team, drawn with China, England and South Africa in their own Pool D, face an identical structural challenge.
Two Host Nations, One Shared Stage
The tournament’s split hosting arrangement adds a further layer to the format’s geography. For the women’s competition, Pool E will be based in the Netherlands and Pool F in Belgium, with the Classification Stage similarly divided — Pool G in the Netherlands and Pool H in Belgium. Semifinals in both the men’s and women’s events will be shared between the two nations, with one played in Wavre and the other in Amsterdam.
The finals themselves bookend the closing weekend: the women’s final in Amsterdam on Saturday, August 29, followed by the men’s final in Wavre on Sunday, August 30. Third- and fourth-placed teams from the Second Stage pools will not simply exit the tournament either, instead playing placement matches to determine 5th to 8th place — ensuring every side retains something to play for deep into the competition.
What Comes Next
With the format confirmed, attention now turns to how each federation prepares for a tournament that punishes early inconsistency more severely than before. As squads finalise their preparations, the coming weeks will reveal whether the elimination of the quarterfinal produces a tighter, higher-stakes tournament.
