India begin FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 campaigns as men open on Independence Day in Amstelveen
India's men's and women's hockey teams start their FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 campaigns, with the men's side facing Wales in Amstelveen on India's 80th Independence Day and the women's team opening against Olympic silver medallist China on August 16.
India's men enter the tournament carrying a 51-year World Cup medal drought, their last podium finish coming when the Ajit Pal Singh-led side won the 1975 title in Kuala Lumpur during the pre-synthetic turf era; the sport's emotional pull in India makes the wait notable for an eight-time Olympic champion. Confidence in the current era has risen after the Harmanpreet Singh-captained side broke a 41-year Olympic gap with bronze in Tokyo in 2021 and then retained bronze in Paris in 2024. Under coach Craig Fulton, India won Asian Games gold in 2023, Olympic bronze in 2024, and the Asia Cup in 2025, the latter securing World Cup qualification. The men finished eighth in the FIH Pro League 2025-26 but produced wins over World champion Germany and Olympic champion the Netherlands.
The squad has undergone experimentation and suffered defeats en route to this World Cup and has dealt with two controversies — involving most-capped player Manpreet Singh and the decision to change the jersey from the familiar blue to saffron — before regrouping for its first World Cup following the retirement of custodian P.R. Sreejesh. After their opener against Wales, the eighth-ranked Indian men will meet England and traditional rival Pakistan in their pool. Having finished sixth and ninth in the last two World Cup editions, the team now targets a higher finish at this tournament.
India's objective for the men also links directly to next month’s Asian Games, where the side will seek to retain its gold medal; doing so will secure a berth in the 2028 Olympics. That sequence frames the immediate competitive priorities for the Harmanpreet Singh-led group as they balance World Cup ambitions with continental qualification stakes.
The Salima Tete-led women's team has been rebuilt under Dutch coach Sjoerd Marijne following turmoil caused first by the exit of his predecessor and then by an alleged sexual harassment case involving a former Hockey India official. Marijne, who in his first stint guided India to its best-ever fourth place at Tokyo, has steered the side to World Cup qualification and a Nations Cup victory since his return. The current women's squad mixes experience and youth, including five 200-cap players alongside 11 debutants, and the selectors acknowledge the challenge of matching India’s 1974 fourth-place finish.
Ranked ninth, the women's team will play Olympic silver medallist China on August 16, then face South Africa and higher-ranked England in their pool fixtures; the side aims to improve on ninth place from 2022 before switching focus to the Asian Games. Those pool results will determine whether India can better its previous World Cup standing and set momentum ahead of continental competition.
For the first time the World Cup features 32 teams across both genders and is co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands under a new, tricky format; both Indian teams have been urged to operate as cohesive units as part of their preparation to build towards Los Angeles 2028.