The International Hockey Federation announced that the draw ceremony to determine the pools of the upcoming FIH Men’s World Cup 2023 in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar will be held on September 8 in Odisha.
The draw ceremony will take place at 12 pm IST at the Convention Centre in Bhubaneswar, the governing body confirmed on Thursday. The tournament will be held from 13 to 29 January 2023 and will involve 16 participating national teams.
Those include India, as the hosts of the competition, whilst Malaysia, Japan and Korea are the other Asian teams. Africa is represented by South Africa, recent winners of the Africa Cup of Nations.
From Europe, the following teams have qualified: Belgium, England, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, France and Wales.
Argentina and Chile are the two American teams having booked their ticket for the prestigious tournament, while Australia and New Zealand, from Oceania, complete the draw.
The four top teams which include hosts India, Australia, Belgium and Netherlands will be placed on the first row of their corresponding Pools based on the FIH World Rankings as per 1 June 2022.
The draw will start with Row 4 of each Pool, involving the following teams: South Africa, Wales, Japan and Chile.
It will then continue with Row 3 of each Pool (involving Spain, Malaysia, France and Korea) and conclude with Row 2 of each Pool (with Germany, England, Argentina and New Zealand).
FIH CEO Thierry Weil and Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik are expected to be in attendance.
The Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the new Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela will host the matches, in the state of Odisha, India.
In the previous edition in 2018, held in Bhubaneswar, Belgium claimed the title by winning the final against Netherlands, while Australia wrapped up the podium places, finishing third.
Draw will be streamed live on Watch.Hockey.
