General News Archives

47th FIH Congress: Winners of FIH Honorary Awards revealed

21 May 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: Today’s #HockeyInvites virtual conference organised by FIH as part of its 47th FIH Congress concluded with the FIH Honorary Awards giving recognition to numerous individuals, teams and organisations for their outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey. The first prize to be ‘presented’ was the Pablo Negre Award to the Uzbekistan Hockey Federation, acknowledging its tremendous efforts to improve playing conditions through new infrastructure and the implementation of youth development models as the country strives to become a major hockey hub of Central Asia. Another National Association honoured was the Polish Hockey Association, who picked up the Theo Ikema Award thanks to various hockey development projects resulting in 30 newly trained coaches and over 3000 schoolchildren being introduced to the sport within the country, while Hockey India was announced as the winners of the Etienne Glichitch Award in recognition of its remarkable contribution to the growth and development of Hockey. As well as National Associations, numerous individuals were recognised in the awards. Inspirational England and Great Britain striker Sam Ward – who suffered a career threatening eye injury in 2019 – was revealed as the recipient of the Super Fair Play Trophy René G Frank. It comes in recognition of his perseverance, dedication, and energy not only in his own recovery but also raising awareness of mental health issues and even volunteering his time to deliver food and medicines to his local community and supporting a young leukaemia patient, Alfie. The Guust Lathouwers Memorial Trophy – for an individual who has made a significant mark on the development of umpiring – went to Croatia’s Ivona Makar, who was described as an outstanding umpire with a very bright future ahead of her. Sharon Williamson of New Zealand was also honoured, being named as the winner of the HRH Sultan Azlan Shah Award for dedicating thousands of voluntary hours toward the delivery of New Zealand’s brand-new National Hockey Centre in Auckland. Additionally, four Order of Merit award winners were revealed. The awardees were Yokoyama Hide, the Vice President of Asian Hockey Federation and Chairman of the Development & Engagement Committee; Peter Elders, EHF and KNHB Executive Board Member and Chair of the EHF Development Committee; Mr Richard Kofi Akpokavie, FIH Technical Official, Chairman of the African Hockey Federation Officials Committee and Member of the FIH Officials Committee, and Dr Robin Mitchell, Foundation member of Oceania Hockey Federation, former President of Fiji Hockey Association and Acting President of ANOC. Diploma of Merit awards went to Mathavan Devadas, President of the Singapore Hockey Federation; Shin Jung Hee, Vice President of both the Asian Hockey Federation and Korean Hockey Association, and Sarah Bennett, African Hockey Federation Executive Board Member and Chair of the AfHF Development Committee. The final award to be revealed saw His Majesty Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, the current King of Malaysia, being named as an Honorary Member of FIH for his tireless efforts to promote and develop hockey. His Majesty Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, who is the current Royal Patron of the Asian Hockey Federation, has initiated the regeneration of hockey in Asia and vowed to recreate its status as an extravaganza and symbolic sport on the Asian and global platform. To see an overview of all FIH Honorary Award winners both past and present as well as background information about the prizes, please click here. The FIH Honorary Awards took place on the opening day of the 47th Congress, with the Congress session itself taking place on Saturday 22 May. Hundreds of delegates from all over the world will connect in the first ever online Congress, where key strategic decisions are made for the development and governance of hockey globally. The Congress agenda includes, amongst other items, elections for the position of FIH President and for four positions of EB Ordinary Member. More information about the agenda of the 47th FIH Congress can be found by clicking here. Opening the 47th FIH Congress, FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra said: “It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Hockey Invites day, which is Day 1 of our two-day FIH Congress. First of all, wherever you are, I hope you and your beloved ones are keeping well and safe. This is by far the most important thing today. I look forward to fruitful discussions and I would like to thank everyone in advance for your participation.” Today’s conference can be watched back in full on the Watch.Hockey app. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

EB holds last meeting before Congress

20 May 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: Meeting virtually ahead of the 47th FIH Congress, the Executive Board (EB) of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) approved a 5-year partnership with a gaming company – Gold Town Games (GTG) – which will develop a hockey manager game, available on mobile, planned to be released globally before the end of 2021 on Google Play and the App Store. The game will be free to download. Furthermore, the EB confirmed the appointment of four new members for the Athletes’ Committee. Sreejesh Parattu (IND), Marlena Rybacha (POL), Mohamed Mea (RSA) and Matt Swann (AUS) are now joining the Committee. It also approved the appointment of Steve Horgan (USA) as the new Chair of the FIH Rules Committee, succeeding David Collier (England), whose term will be ending at the upcoming Congress. Various updates were given during the meeting about development, FIH events – including the FIH Hockey Pro League and the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 -, finances, sport matters, governance, TV, commercial, marketing-communications matters and of course about the final preparations for the 47th FIH Congress session will be held virtually on 22 May. The Congress agenda is available here. As already announced, all Congress delegates have been invited to join tomorrow, Friday 21 May, a #HockeyInvites virtual conference organised by FIH where a number of topics, such as development, sport matters, gender-equality, promotion or integrity, will be discussed. The FIH Awards will be announced on this occasion too. Both the #HockeyInvites conference and the Congress session can be watched live on Watch.Hockey as follows: #HockeyInvites conference: 21 May, from 11am until 3pm CEST (note: end time is flexible) Congress session: 22 May, from 11am to 3:30pm CEST (note: end time is flexible) For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

Olympic Capital to welcome first ever senior World Hockey5s event organised by FIH

27 April 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to announce that it will organise its first ever senior World Hockey5s event on 11 and 12 September 2021, in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will offer an exciting mix of intense competition, music entertainment and additional activities, such as initiations or demonstrations, to showcase hockey and engage further with the public. Access to ‘FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021’ will be free of charge and the event will be broadcasted live across the world on the Watch.Hockey platform. Five male and five female national teams, including some of the powerhouses of international hockey, will compete: Switzerland, England, Germany, India, Malaysia (Men) Switzerland, England, Germany, India, South Africa (Women) Hockey5s is played with 5 athletes per team. It is particularly known for its non-stop end to end action, since the ball is in play for about 90% of a match, thanks to rebound-boards placed against the outside of the side-lines and back-lines. Furthermore, there are usually more goals with Hockey5s than with the more traditional 11-a-side format of hockey, since players can score from anywhere after the attacking line. Also, Hockey5s is played on a smaller pitch, which enables to bring hockey to people in new and unexpected venues, sometimes even at the heart of the cities. Precisely, FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021 will be staged on the Place de la Navigation, an iconic location near the Lac Léman bordering the Olympic Capital. Played in about 70 countries in the world, Hockey5s was the most attended sport at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with no less than 200’000 spectators! In 2019, in order to further boost the development of hockey globally through Hockey5s, the FIH Executive Board decided to create an FIH Hockey5s World Cup – with the inaugural edition planned in 2023 – and, in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour, which will consist of events similar to Lausanne’s. Commenting on FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021, FIH CEO Thierry Weil stated: “Hockey5s is a great format to promote our sport and especially introduce it to sports fans not yet familiar with hockey. I invite everyone to come to this world event and enjoy the speed, skills and fun of our game!” In an exclusive interview to FIH, Swiss Women’s national team player Sae Fontana said she’s “really excited about playing some of the best teams of the world! As early adopters of Hockey5s, we want to gain a competitive advantage, to get better rapidly, as a small country. Hockey5s is definitely a faster game, which makes it very intense as a player. Also, there are many more possibilities to score a goal, to get creative. The individual skills of each player are quite important, and there is more ball contact for each player since there are less players on the field of play.” Reflecting on Hockey5s, South African coach Tsoanelo Pholo said in an exclusive interview to FIH: “Hockey5s [is] an initiator into hockey, a developer into the full field version. If you have a Hockey5s court in three or four places in the country, I’m telling you now, we are going to have way more hockey players in developing countries. That is a dream of the FIH, to ensure that we touch as many lives as we can with hockey. Because hockey has given me and so many others so much, I would love to see that opportunity be given to many other people, especially youth. I think it is going to grow massively in the smaller countries. I think that is exactly what Hockey5s is about.” For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

Announcement: Junior Africa Cup [JAC] 2021 (M/W) – Namibia

Tournament Name: Junior Africa Cup [JAC] 2021 (M/W) Host: Namibia Dates: 14 – 22 August 2021 Venue: The Davin Trustco Hockey Stadium, Windhoek High School / Trustco Aloe Park, Windhoek Gymnasium Private School Age Limit: All players shall be under 21 years of age as of 31 December 2019; that is all players shall be born on or after 1 January 1999 (This is a one-time exception for only this JAC edition – not applicable to the JWC 2021) Qualification pathway: Top 2 teams per gender qualify to the Junior World Cup [JWC] 2021 (Men: India 25 Nov – 5 Dec 2021) (Women: South Africa 5 – 16 Dec 2021)

FIH publishes Congress agenda

22 April 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: The agenda of the FIH Congress, which will be held virtually on 22 May, is now published. The upcoming meeting of the supreme organ of hockey’s world governing body includes, amongst others, elections for the position of FIH President and for four positions of EB Ordinary Member. Elections will be conducted via e-voting (art. 6.3 c) FIH Statutes) and overseen by the FIH Elections Oversight Panel (EOP), as stipulated in the FIH Elections Manual (art. 11). UK company Lumi will operate the e-voting process. Furthermore, FIH has appointed an independent notary (from UK firm Cheeswrights Scrivener Notaries LLP), who will chair and oversee the election process. His powers are delegated by the Elections Oversight Panel. Other points on the agenda include: A vote on the admission of the following nations as new FIH Members: Gambia, Saudi Arabia and Timor Leste (all approved as provisional Members by the FIH Executive Board on 22 October 2020); A vote on the admission as FIH Member of a new National Association (NA) in Indonesia, which is recognised by the Indonesian NOC. This is due to the non-fulfilment of their obligations by the current NA. It requires however that the Congress first expels the current NA; A decision to approve the use of gender-neutral terms in the FIH Statutes; A decision to extend FIH’s purpose and powers within its Statutes to any virtual or e-gaming activities and competitions for the future As specified in the FIH Statutes (article 2.2(a)(ii)), newly approved Members present at Congress will have the right to participate in meetings of Congress and to cast a vote on resolutions put to Congress. On the eve of the Congress, all delegates have been invited to join a #HockeyInvites virtual conference organised by FIH where a number of topics, such as development, sport matters, gender-equality, promotion or integrity, will be discussed. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.