CHENNAI: The international hockey federation’s (FIH) decision to hand India back-to-back World Cups did not please many within the wider community.
The European bloc were scathing on social media and many questioned whether the FIH were inadvertently killing the game in the other markets. Thierry Weil, the body’s CEO, said he was very happy with the decision to reuse a venue like Bhubaneswar.
“I come from a sport (Weil was marketing director at FIFA) where whenever we organise a World Cup, we have been criticised for creating white elephants. With the sustainability discussion that we have in the world now, I am extremely happy that we as a sport have decided to reuse a venue like Bhubaneswar because there was a lot of effort and investment done to build the stadium there.”
Pressed further, Weil admitted that given India brings in the money, it’s important to keep them ‘part of your sport’.
“We want to do more development (take the WC to other parts of the world) but as with all things in life, when you want to do more development, you need to generate more revenues. And how can you do that? It is by making countries like India part of your sport,” the Frenchman said during a conference call with members of the Indian media.
With bids coming in from other countries as well, Weil is of the opinion that they will be ready to take it to other nations in 2026 or 2027. “We had some good bids, and we have had Malaysia in the bids too. This will now lead us into 2020, where we would like to discuss where the World Cup of 2026 (or early 2027) is going,” he opined.
“From a commercial perspective, we need long-term planning, and we can start moving depending on how quickly we can talk of 2026 and 2027.”
He also spent a considerable amount of time on next year’s Pro League, when India will make their debut (they open against The Netherlands on January 18 and 19).
“It is a new tournament, and it requires financial investment, not only from FIH but from each national association. We have done our homework, and we know how we are going to plan out seasons two, three and four. The good thing is we will achieve a break-even in season two, and then seasons three and four will be about making positive (gains).”
Changes to the 2020 edition include removing of the grand final. This has been done to give the sides six to eight weeks before the Olympics. But Weil wants to put a stop to frequent changes to the format. “We want to keep it consistent so there is continuity.”
One common complaint that the sport has had is the lack of context for bilateral as well as multi-nation invitational tournaments. That is set to go from next season as the FIH is bringing in a ‘new ranking system’ where ‘every match will count’.
“Every FIH approved game is going to count,” Weil said. “And this is not just Pro League but for every match throughout the international calendar.”