FIH Hockey Pro League: Pools, squad, telecast and more

Indian Men's team will play its first game against Germany on March 10.

The FIH Pro League replaced the FIH World League. It also serves as a qualification for the Olympics and World Cup. The bottom team is demoted to the FIH Nations Cup, and the Nations Cup champion is promoted. India will face Germany and Australia in Rourkela, Bhubaneswar. Craig Fulton has been named India's new head coach. Fulton will be under pressure because India is the top team in Asia, and his primary goal will be the Asian Games in September 2023. He will also be in charge of the remaining Pro League games.

About

Starting in 2019, the tournament replaced World League. Australia (Men) and the Netherlands (Women) were the champions in 2019. It is basically a global annual league in which the best teams across the World compete with each other. This has promoted hockey, and Odisha has also promoted hockey at the grass root level. There is a total of 144 matches and nine teams each for men's and women's pools.

Men’s and Women’s pool

There are 9 teams each for Men’s and Women’s pools. Spain leads the men’s pool followed by Argentina, Great Britain, India, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand. Argentina, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, China, United States, New Zealand, Belgium, and Great Britain are in the women's pool. 

India is in fourth place after four games in which they have scored 15 goals. Harmanpreet Singh of India is among the top soccer with 6 goals.

Format

The format is a round-robin tournament in which each team will face the other team twice. The bottom team is relegated to FIH Nations Cup, and the team who wins the Nations Cup is promoted.

Where to watch Hockey Pro League?

Fans in India can watch the live telecast of all of India's matches in the FIH Men's Pro League 2022-23 on Star Sports Select 2 channels on their TV sets. Live streaming for the same will be available on Fancode for free.

India’s upcoming fixture

In a rush of fixtures, India will face Germany and Australia.

India’s style of play under Craig Fulton

India will now concentrate on the offensive play and delivering under pressure. Fulton will concentrate more on statistics and player and game analysis. India will concentrate on not conceding a cheap penalty corner since they might be key, and solid defence is required for a win.

Men's Squad

Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran, Pawan, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sumit, Manjeet, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh (V/C), Vivek Sagar Prasad, Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, Vishnukant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, S. Karthi, Sukhjeet Singh, Abhishek, and Gurjant Singh.