Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 13: Argentina and South Africa, the Olympic champions from the Rio 2016 Games, will face off on January 13 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar to kick off the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023.
Later on in the day, play will shift to Rourkela’s newly constructed Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium, the FIH World Cup’s second venue, where India’s men’s hockey team will play against Spain in a Pool D match.
A total of 16 nations, split into four pools (A–D), will compete in the 15th edition of the hockey World Cup. Each team will play three hockey games during the group stage.
FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 groups
Pool A: Australia, South Africa, France, Argentina
Pool B: Belgium, Japan, Korea, Germany
Pool C: Netherlands, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand
Pool D: India, Wales, Spain, England
The teams placing second and third in their pools will compete in crossover matches for the remaining four quarterfinal slots, while the four pool winners will move directly to the quarterfinals.
Australia, ranked first in the world, is paired with Argentina in Pool A and will face them on January 16.
Current champions In Pool B, Germany, a two-time winner, will play Belgium. The meeting will take place on January 17. Pakistan, which has won four hockey World Cup championships, was unable to make the cut for the 2023 tournament.Up until January 20, a total of 24 pool-stage matches will be played.
The FIH World Cup final will take place at the Kalinga Stadium on January 29 after the quarterfinals, classification games, semifinals, and crossovers on January 22.
Twenty of the 44 World Cup hockey games will be played at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium. The Kalinga Stadium will host the final 24 games, which include the semifinals, final, and quarterfinals. The Birsa Munda Stadium will host the matches for the classification.
