What are the plans for 2026 Hockey Men's World Cup bid?

This week marks 100 days until the FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 gets underway in India; with England’s players preparing to take on the very best teams in the world.

And while excitement builds for the 2023 event, England Hockey and its partners are bidding to host the next Hockey Men’s World Cup in 2026.

Which venues are part of the 2026 bid?
Four stadia have been selected as event venues including the Twickenham Stoop in London, cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton, and Cardiff Arms Park. The Finals Weekend would head to Tottenham Hotspur’s iconic 62,850-seater stadium.

How much bigger would it be than previous World Cups?
The scale of the stadia will allow for more than 320,000 tickets to be made available throughout the event, making it the biggest Hockey World Cup in history. The last three iterations of the event have been held at stadia with 15,000-20,000 seats, and the prospect of trebling the capacity for the finals weekend is a mouthwatering one for the sport as a whole.

How will the venues be able to host hockey?
England Hockey and Hockey Wales’ bid is the first for any FIH event to be based on Big Stadium Hockey – innovative technology which allows for international standard playing surfaces to be temporarily laid at stadiums. It was first introduced in the UK three years ago at the Twickenham Stoop and enabled 12,000+ fans to watch hockey, the biggest hockey crowd on these shores since the London 2012 Olympics.

Has England hosted the Men’s World Cup before?
A successful bid would see the Men’s Hockey World Cup return to the UK forty years on since England last hosted the event in 1986, two years before Britain’s men won Olympic gold in 1988. It would also follow the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup which was held in England in 2018.

How would the event help hockey more widely?
Legacy and social impact are at the heart of this bid. Through the visibility the event will attract, and through associated programmes, we will seek to engage new and diverse audiences and work closely with the nation’s clubs to further grow the sport. We’ll also use hockey for the development of life skills and physical and mental wellbeing. These programmes will be delivered across the years building up to the event, not just the four weeks of the event, seeking to make a positive difference to people’s lives.

What happens next?
A number of countries have submitted bids to stage this event, and the hosts are due to be selected at the upcoming FIH Congress at the beginning of November.

How can I help?
You can help make a difference to the profile and opportunities for hockey over the next four years. Please register your support at our Back The Bid page on the England Hockey website. And also tell your teammates, friends and family about this hugely exciting bid!

Here’s a date for your diary too – Sunday 26 July 2026 – see you at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!