South Africa bid for Hockey World Cup

The International Hockey Federation have confirmed to have received a bid from South Africa to host the 2026 FIH Women's or Men's Hockey World Cup.

Following the close of the bidding process, the FIH have announced that four continents stand in line to win the hosting rights for either one or both of the events, including Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Europe.

For the Women's World Cup, South Africa are rivaled by Australia and Uruguay, with Potchefstroom touted as the host city should the tournament come to local shores.

Meanwhile, for the Men's World Cup, Germany and England - in partnership with Wales - have submitted bids alongside South Africa, who have put the same city up for hosting the event.

Netherlands and Belgium have also launched a joint bid to host both tournaments concurrently, and South Africa once again are hoping to stage the two showpieces concurrently at the North West University.

"The FIH have today announced the bids for the 2026 World Cup tournaments. South Africa have bid to host either the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup or the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup in Potchefstroom in 2026. South Africa have also bid to host both tournaments at the same time," read a statement from SA Hockey.

"Following the successful staging of the FIH Women's Junior World Cup in Potchefstroom this year, the first African-based World Cup, the country and North West University are keen to host the main event."

The winning bid(s) will be decided at the FIH's Executive Board meeting on 3 November and communicated at the FIH Congress, which will be held on 4-5 November this year.

The 2022 FIH Women's Hockey World Cup will be staged from 1-17 July across Spain and Netherlands, while the Men's event will be staged in January 2023 in India.

By Web Admin