India confirmed their berth in the upcoming FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup 2026 after qualifying for the semi-finals of the ongoing Qualifying Tournament in Hyderabad.
As per rules, two FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup Qualifiers 2026 tournaments – one in Hyderabad, India, and the other in Santiago, Chile – decide the final seven teams which make the cut for the upcoming Women’s Hockey World Cup.
The top three teams from each of the two qualifiers and the best-ranked fourth-placed team across both will qualify for the main event scheduled between August 15 and 30 in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Santiago leg of the qualifiers concluded earlier, with hosts Chile, Australia and Ireland securing the three direct qualification spots. Japan, 15th in the hockey world rankings, finished fourth in Santiago.
While India are yet to play their semi-final match of the Hyderabad leg against Italy on Friday, they are already assured a spot in the 2026 Women’s FIH Hockey World Cup.
Ranked ninth globally, India outrank Japan by six places in the FIH women’s hockey rankings. Even if the hosts lose their semis to Italy and the subsequent third-place playoff match, they are guaranteed to finish as the better-ranked fourth-placed team.
This will be the ninth time India will play at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup. Their best performance – fourth – came at the inaugural edition in 1974.
The Indian women’s hockey team finished ninth in the 2022 World Cup in Spain.
“Securing qualification for the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup 2026 is an important milestone for this group, and the players deserve a lot of credit for the way they have performed so far in the tournament,” India’s coach Sjoerd Marijne said ahead of the semi-final.
“At the same time, our mindset is very clear – we are not here just to qualify. We want to keep improving with every match and aim to win the tournament.”
Earlier in the tournament, India finished on top of Pool B with seven points from three matches and a superior goal difference over Scotland, who also collected seven points to finish second in the group.
The hosts registered two wins and one draw in the pool stage.
Italy finished second in Pool A with four points after registering one win, one draw and one loss. England topped the group with three wins in three.
India’s Navneet Kaur, who scored a hat-trick against Wales in India’s final pool stage match, is currently the joint top scorer of the tournament in Hyderabad with four goals.
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