The Worldwide Hockey Federation (FIH) can affirm that the “Inexperienced Military” – Eire’s nationwide hockey crew nickname – will be part of the FIH Hockey Professional League for the 2025-26 season. It is going to be the primary time that the finalists of the 2018 FIH Hockey Ladies’s World Cup will be part of the “League of the Greatest”.
Eire was promoted by way of the FIH Hockey Nations Cup performed in Chile earlier this 12 months. While New Zealand gained that occasion towards Eire within the closing, Hockey New Zealand later indicated that the Black Sticks wouldn’t proceed with the invitation to hitch Professional League this time. Subsequently, as stipulated within the laws, FIH prolonged the invitation to the runners-up, specifically Eire, who’ve confirmed their participation.
FIH President Tayyab Ikram stated: “Congratulations to the Eire Ladies crew for becoming a member of the subsequent season of the FIH Hockey Professional League! It’s fantastic to see a brand new crew taking part within the ‘League of the Greatest’. Qualifying by way of the FIH Hockey Nations Cup confirms how a lot the latter is a good springboard to hitch hockey’s elite.”
Talking after the announcement, Eire Ladies’s Head Coach Gareth Grundie stated: “I’m delighted that we now have been given the chance to take part within the FIH Professional League 2025/26 Season 7. It’s a testomony to the standard of play this crew has achieved so far and is a wonderful and invaluable alternative for additional enchancment. It comes at a super time for us as a programme additionally, pitting us towards the World’s finest groups as we go in quest of qualification for the 2026 FIH World Cup within the Netherlands and Belgium.”
Ending the 2024-25 Ladies’s Professional League season in final place of the rankings, India is relegated to the FIH Hockey Nations Cup.
On the boys’s aspect, following the Black Sticks’ victory on the latest Nations Cup in Malaysia, FIH has prolonged an invite to Hockey New Zealand for his or her males’s crew to hitch Professional League once more subsequent season. Since New Zealand’s hockey governing physique is presently enterprise an intensive evaluation and decision-making course of on this regard, FIH has authorized their request for an extension of the deadline to substantiate or decline their participation till 21 July.
Ought to New Zealand ultimately determine to not take part, the runners-up of the Males’s Nations Cup, specifically Pakistan, would have the chance to think about becoming a member of the 2025-26 FIH Hockey Professional League season.
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2024-25 FIH Hockey Professional League (W)
