2026 Hockey World Cup Qualification: Teams and Pathways

The 2026 Hockey World Cup approaches , the qualification journey is heating up . A total of 16 teams will feature in the tournament , and and so far , seven nations have already secured their place

🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇧🇪 Belgium
🇩🇪 Germany
🇦🇺 Australia
🇳🇿 New Zealand
🇪🇸 Spain
🇦🇷 Argentina

How the Remaining Teams Will Qualify

The road to those final slots will run through three key qualification pathways:

 Asia Cup Determines which Asian teams make it through, with traditional powerhouses like India,  Malaysia, and Korea in the mix with only one team winning while others ranking from 2-6 will play the the world cup qualifiers

Africa Cup  Provides Africa’s representation at the World Cup, with South Africa historically leading the charge. The team that wins will directly got to the world cup while the second rank team will play the qualifiers

World Cup Qualifiers  The remaining teams from Europe, the Americas, and Oceania will battle it out in qualification tournaments for the last tickets to 2026.

The teams that already are in the qualifiers are the following

Canada
Chile
United States
 Ireland
Austria
France
Poland
England  
Scotland  
Wales  

The Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup is the pinnacle of international field hockey , bringing together the best teams from across the globe every four years . First held in 1971 , the tournament serves as the sport’s ultimate prize between Olympic cycles .

Furthermore, Over the decades , hockey giants have written their legacy on this stage with Pakistan leading the all-time winners ’ list with four titles , followed closely by the Netherlands , Australia , and Germany with three each . More recently , Belgium and India have also etched their names into history with a single triumph each .

As for the remaining spots. Five of them belongs to Asia while One belongs to Africa 

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