Lausanne (Switzerland), Dec 11 (IANS) Hyderabad in India, Santiago in Chile, and Ismalia in Egypt have been picked to host the men's and women's qualifiers for the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed on Thursday.

While Santiago will host both the men's and women's competitions, Hyderabad will only host the women's event, while Ismalia will host the men's event. The three events will be played in February-March next year.

The Qualifiers represent the final stage of qualification for next year’s FIH Hockey World Cup, which will be hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands (15-30 August 2026).

Seven teams per gender will qualify through these events, which promise to be among the highlights of the FIH calendar next year. The teams finishing first, second, and third in each tournament will secure their place at next year’s FIH flagship event. The highest world-ranked team among those finishing in fourth place in each event will be the seventh team to qualify, the FIH informed in a release.

Hyderabad will host women's teams from England, Scotland, South Korea, Italy, Uruguay, Wales, and Austria, besides hosts India, from March 8–14, 2026.

Other teams, too, have been allocated according to the FIH World Rankings.

Santiago, Chile, will host teams of Australia, Japan, Ireland, Chile, France, Canada, Malaysia, and Switzerland in the women's qualifiers. In the men's qualifiers, France, Ireland, Korea, Wales, Scotland, Canada, Poland, and Chile will take part. Both events will run from February 28 to March 8, 2026.

Ismailia, Egypt, will host the men's teams of England, Malaysia, Pakistan, Egypt, Japan, Austria, China, and the USA from March 1 to 7, 2026.

The teams qualifying through these tournaments will join an impressive line-up of 18 teams (9 per gender) that have already qualified, either through the FIH Hockey Pro League, the Continental Championships, or as hosts.

In the men's competition, Belgium and the Netherlands have qualified as joint hosts, while Argentina, Germany, India, New Zealand, and South Africa made it via the Continental Championships, while Australia and Spain qualified through the FIH Pro League.

For the women's World Cup 2026, Belgium and the Netherlands have qualified as joint hosts, while the USA, Spain, New Zealand, China, and South Africa made it via the respective Continental Championships, and Germany and Argentina made it from the FIH Pro League.

--IANS

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