Road To Glory! India To Begin FIH Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifiers Against...

India, placed in Pool B, will face Uruguay on March 8 in their opening match of the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup qualifiers in Hyderabad. The hosts will then play against Scotland on March 9 and Wales

on March 11 in their subsequent pool matches.

Pool B consists of England, Korea, Italy, and Austria. The semifinals are scheduled for March 13, with the third-place playoff and final on March 14.

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Another qualifying tournament will take place in Santiago, Chile, from February 28 to March 8, featuring teams like Australia, Japan, Ireland, Chile, France, Canada, Malaysia, and Switzerland.

The top three teams from the qualifiers in Hyderabad and Santiago will secure spots for the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup, to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands in August. The highest-ranked team finishing in fourth place from either Hyderabad or Santiago will also qualify, making it the seventh team to join the event.

These seven teams will join the nine others already qualified for the global tournament.

India failed to secure direct qualification for the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup at the 2025 Asia Cup, losing to China in the final. China’s victory in the Asia Cup earned them direct qualification, necessitating India’s participation in the March 8-14 qualifiers in Hyderabad for a chance to compete in the 2026 World Cup.

The men’s qualifiers for the 2026 FIH World Cup will also be held at two venues. France, Ireland, Korea, Wales, Scotland, Canada, Poland, and Chile will compete in Santiago from February 28 to March 8. Meanwhile, England, Malaysia, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan, Austria, China, and the USA will play in Ismailia, Egypt, from March 1 to 7, vying for seven spots across the two qualifiers.

The Indian men’s team has already secured its berth in the 2026 FIH World Cup by winning the 2025 Asia Cup in Rajgir, Bihar.

(With Inputs Form Agencies)