All you need to know about the FIH Hockey Pro League

The tournament provides a huge opportunity for young players to showcase their skills.

The FIH Hockey Pro League is currently underway. Both the Indian men's and women's teams are playing in it for a chance to earn their qualifications to the Hockey World Cup and Olympic Games. The tournament involves nine men's and women's teams who contest in it in the round-robin format. The competition is played from October to June and the top team at the end of the season wins the league.

However, a new rule was introduced from 2022 onwards. This change concerned the team which finishes at the bottom of the table after the conclusion of the league. Now the team at the bottom will be relegated and replaced by the winners of the Men's and Women's Nations Cup winners.

Format

The format of the tournament is pretty much identical for both genders. For instance, Team A will host Team B twice within a couple of days in both the men's and women's categories respectively.

Rules

The rules of the contest are prescribed clearly to ensure fairness in the tournament. They are as follows:-

a) Each team in the FIH Hockey Pro League will play all of the other teams in the tournament twice a season. Each team plays 16 matches in a season this way.

b) In the event of a match being drawn, a shoot-out competition will be played. The winner of the shoot-out will be awarded one bonus point.

c) The following points will be awarded for each match : i) three (3) points to the winner in normal time. ii) one (1) point to the winner of a shootout following a draw plus one (1) bonus point, making a total of two (2) points. iii) one (1) point to the loser of the shootout, in the event of a draw; iv) no points to the loser of a match in normal time

d) During the season, teams will be ranked by the points gained up to that point in time. In the case of two or more teams having an equal number of points, they will be ranked according to regulations.

Formation and Past Winners

The first edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League was played in 2019. The tournament came in as a replacement for the Hockey World League. Australia (Men) and The Netherlands (Women) were crowned champions in the inaugural edition of the tournament. The second edition was played in 2020 and 2021 (due to the global COVID-19 pandemic). The Dutch ladies won again whilst the Belgium men's team triumphed for the first time in the competition.

This is the third edition of the tournament and coincidentally the Dutch ladies and Belgian boys are still at the top. But there is a long road ahead and anything can happen during that time. It would be interesting to see who comes out on top in the end.

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