ISLAMABAD, Sep 02 (APP): The Women’s Asia Cup 2025 – Asia’s premier hockey women’s tournament will be held from September 5 to 14 at Gongshu, China, with the champions punching their ticket to the FIH Hockey World Cup Belgium & Netherlands 2026.
The tournament will feature 8 teams, split into Pool A & B. The top two from each pool will advance to a Super 4s pool stage, where the teams will compete in a secondary pool and get ranked from one to four, said a press release.
The semi-finals line-up will be decided on the basis of the secondary pool results, while the bottom two teams from each pool, of the first pool stage, will play for classifications and world ranking points.
Pools- Pool A: China, Chinese Taipei, Korea, Malaysia; Pool B: India, Japan, Thailand, Singapore.
The tournament will begin the competition with Pool B action on September 5, as Japan will take on Singapore in the first match followed by India taking on Thailand. Pool A matches will follow as all 8 teams will take the field on opening day.
Korea vs Chinese Taipei will get Pool A underway before the final match of the day will pit hosts China against Malaysia.
The initial pool stage for the women’s competition will be played from September 5 to 8, followed by the secondary pool stage, positional playoffs and medal matches being played from September 10 to 14.
The winner of the women’s competition will earn a coveted spot at the FIH Hockey World Cup Belgium and Netherlands 2026.
Six teams have now qualified for the women’s competition at the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026. Belgium and Netherlands, on account of being hosts of the event, gained direct qualification. Germany and Argentina qualified through the previous two editions of the FIH Hockey Pro League. USA secured qualification through the Pan American Cup and Spain qualified from the Eurohockey Championship. Along with Asia, continental championships in Africa and Oceania will determine three direct qualifiers for the event, with the remaining seven teams qualifying through the FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers in 2026.
Based on their performance at the Pan American Cup and the EuroHockey Championships, the following women’s teams have qualified for the FIH Hockey World Cup Qualifiers 2026: Uruguay, Chile, Canada, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Wales, Scotland, Austria and Switzerland, with with four further sides qualifying from the upcoming Asia Cup and one from the Oceania Cup.