England To Play Wales and India at Commonwealth Games

England will take on India and Wales in the group stage at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The full pools and fixture list have now been confirmed, and as a quirk of the current world rankings, both of England’s men’s and women’s teams face the exact same opponents – India, Canada, Wales and Ghana – in the pool stages.

England’s women have won at least bronze since hockey was introduced to the Commonwealth Games in 1998, while the men have been in the top four on all but one occasion. With the benefit of home support, both sides will be looking to stamp their authority on what is sure to be a hugely exciting eleven days of hockey from 29 July to 8 August.

England’s men play in the very first match of the men’s event, taking on debutants Ghana, before a home nations clash with Wales two days later. England’s women are handed fixtures on both the first Saturday and Sunday, coming up against Ghana and Canada.

The Commonwealth Games have only ever been held in England in 1934 and 2002, and with hockey not introduced until 1998, this summer’s games in Birmingham present an historic opportunity for the sport.

Matches take place at the University of Birmingham and tickets are on sale now at the official Birmingham 2022 website.

Men’s competition

Men’s Pool B
India
England
Canada
Wales
Ghana

England men’s pool fixtures
Fri 29 Jul 7pm England v Ghana
Sun 31 Jul 2pm England v Wales
Mon 1 Aug 4pm England v India
Thu 4 Aug 4pm England v Canada

Men’s knockout matches
Sat 6 Aug Semi-Finals and 7th-10th place play-offs
Sun 7 Aug 5th-6th play-off
Mon 8 Aug Final and 3rd – 4th play-off

Women’s competition

Women’s Pool A
England
India
Canada
Wales
Ghana

England women’s pool fixtures
Sat 30 Jul 4pm England v Ghana
Sun 31 Jul 7pm England v Canada
Tue 2 Aug 2pm England v India
Thu 4 Aug 11am England v Wales

Women’s knockout matches
Fri 5 Aug Semi-Finals and 7th-10th place play-offs
Sun 7 Aug Final and 3rd to 6th place play-offs

Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, said: “We are excited to be unveiling the official hockey match schedule today as it brings us another step closer to the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. It’s going to be an exciting tournament with an impressive line-up of teams, featuring all of the medallists from the last edition of the Commonwealth Games. Tickets have already been selling well for hockey and now the group matches have been revealed, we expect to see an upsurge in sales to hockey fans who’ve been eagerly waiting the release of this schedule.”

Tickets for the Commonwealth Games are on general sale now – go to https://tickets.birmingham2022.com to find out more.