The 2010 Hockey World Cup will be the twelfth installment of the Men's Hockey World Cup. On November 14, 2007, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that the championship would be held in India, taking place over two weeks from Feb 28 to March 13, 2010 at New Delhi's Dhyan Chand National Stadium.[1]
Teams
Twelve teams in total will compete in the tournament.[2] To qualify, each continental champion from five confederations and the host received an automatic berth. Three further teams qualified from the EuroHockey Nations Championship. The remaining three places were determined by qualification tournaments, with the winner of each progressing to the World Cup.
Three World Cup qualifying tournaments were held in 2009. Pakistan won the first tournament which was held in Lille, France from October 31 to November 8, 2009. The hosts, New Zealand, won the second tournament held in Invercargill, from November 7 to November 15, 2009 [3]. The third tournament which was played in Quilmes, Argentina from November 14 to November 22, 2009 [4]
was won by the hosts, Argentina.
Competition format
Twelve teams are competing in the tournament with the competition consisting of two rounds.[5] In the first round, teams are divided into two pools of six teams, and play follows round robin format with each of the teams playing all other teams in the pool once. Teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.[5] At the end of the pool matches, teams were ranked in their pool according to the following criteria in order[5]:
Total points accumulated
Number of matches won
Goal difference
Goals for
The result of the match played between the teams in question
Following the completion of the pool games, teams placing first and second in each pool advanced to a single elimination round consisting of two semifinal games, a third place playoff and a final.[5] Remaining teams compete in classification matches to determine their ranking in the tournament. During these matches, extra time of 7½ minutes per half will be played if teams are tied at the end of regulation time. During extra time, play follows golden goal rules with the first team to score declared the winner. If no goals are scored during extra time, a penalty stroke competition takes place.[5]
Fifteen umpires for the men's event were appointed by the FIH.[6] During each match, a video umpire is being used to assist the on-field umpires in determining if a goal had been legally scored.[5] The FIH has also mandated that on a trial basis during the tournament, each team will receive the right to refer one decision made by an on-field umpire to the video umpire for assessment. Referrals are only permitted for decisions made within the 23 metre area relating to the award (or non-award) of goals, penalty strokes and penalty corners.[5] In the event that the referral is upheld, the referring team retains a right of further referral.
Netherlands: Sport1 (live), Nederland 1 (Only the Semi-Final between the Netherlands and Australia, if the Netherlands places for the final they will also broadcast the final)
India's hosting of the event was put in doubt when the FIH reviewed the progress of the Indian Hockey Federation's "Promoting Indian Hockey" program and India's preparation for the championship, and warned that "satisfactory progress had not been made in either area".[8] India was warned it could lose the right to host the World Cup unless satisfactory progress was made.[9] It was confirmed on July 18, 2008 that International Hockey Federation formally awarded the hosting rights to India.[10]