FIH HOCKEY PRO LEAGUE 2020

About FIH Pro League

The International Hockey Federation on March 14 suspended the ongoing FIH Pro League, which involves Indian hockey team, until April 15, citing the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic. Depending on how the situation evolves and the decision of public authorities, every match which can be organised between late April and before the Olympics, shall be played, according to FIH.

The FIH Pro League, also called Pro Hockey league, is an international field hockey event organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). This multi-team tournament came into existence in 2019 after FIH abolished the Champions’ Trophy, the World League semi-finals and World League finals. FIH Pro League matches are played from January to June each year.

In the inaugural season, played in 2019, the top four teams that qualified for semifinals after the completion of round-robin matches were Australia, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium. Australia defeated Great Britain 6-1 in the first semifinal, and Belgium beat the Netherlands 3-1 in the second. In the grand finale, Australia defeated Belgium 3-2 to become inaugural-edition champions. India did not take part in the first edition as they saw the chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics as higher. Pakistan were suspended as they could not play their first three games.

Nine teams – Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain – will play against one another at the round-robin stage in home and away matches. This year, there has been a format change from the inaugural edition; the end-of-season Grand finale event has been removed. The winner will be decided on the basis of the highest number of accumulated score on the points table by the end of the competition.