The January 13-29 tournament will be co-hosted by two cities in the state of Odisha. Last year’s venue, Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, will be joined by Rourkela, where games will be played at the new purpose-built Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium.
NUMBER OF MATCHES AND TEAMS
A total of 44 matches will be played at the two venues, involving the top 16 teams in the world.
Tokyo Olympics host and bronze medalist India will be joined by defending champions and reigning Olympic champions Belgium, world No. 1 Australia, Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Argentina, England, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, France, Japan, Chile and Wales.
The group stage matches will be split between the two venues Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, followed by the crossover matches which will be played in Bhubaneswar only.
The matches to decide the 9th to 16th places will be held in Rourkela, while the quarter-finals, semi-finals, bronze medal game and final will be hosted by Bhubaneswar.
THE FORMAT
The 16 teams were divided into four pools.
Each team in their respective group will play the other three teams once, and the group leader will advance to the quarter-finals. The second- and third-placed teams from each pool will play the crossover matches that will determine the four remaining quarter-finalists.
POOLS
Pool A: Australia, South Africa, France, Argentina
Pool B: Belgium, Japan, Korea, Germany
Group C: Netherlands, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand
Pool D: India, Wales, Spain, England
The two semi-finals will be played on January 27 and the final on January 29.
