KARACHI, Nov 8: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced that England and India will be the host nations of the Hockey World Cups in 2018, said a FIH statement issued on Friday.

The FIH has selected the countries that will host the vast majority of its top level events in the 2015-2018 cycle.

The move is part of FIH’s new event assignment process, which was presented to national associations at the FIH Congress in November last year.

Argentina will host two events in 2015, with the men’s World League semi-final and the women’s World League final, while Belgium will be the location for a superb joint men and women’s World League semi-finals tournament. The men’s World League Final will take place in India from Dec 5 to 13.

In 2016, the elite men and women’s Champions Trophy events have been awarded to Argentina and England respectively, while India has won the rights to host the men’s Junior World Cup.

The World League will dominate the 2017 calendar, with semi-final and final events taking place in Belgium, Argentina, England and India.

As well as the showpiece World Cup events, 2018 will also see Argentina playing host to the women’s Champions Trophy and the joint men and women’s Indoor World Cup.

“We were really pleased with the bids received and I am delighted that we have been able to set the calendar for the next four years,” said FIH chief executive Kelly Fairweather. “We are greatly looking forward to bringing our fantastic events to all of these nations over the years ahead.”

The news comes less than 24 hours after the announcement confirming England and India as the respective hosts of the 2018 World Cups.

England Hockey was successful in their bid to host the women’s showpiece, with Hockey India winning the race to host the men’s equivalent.

The women’s tournament in England is scheduled to take place from July 7 to 21, 2018, with the men’s event in India planned for Dec 1-16, 2018.—APP