AfHF PRESS RELEASE 6 July 2021
AfHF Press Release | 23 May 2021 – 47th FIH Congress
Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra re-elected President at 47th FIH Congress
22 May 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: The 47th FIH Congress session, where hundreds of delegates from all over the world gathered in virtual forum to discuss important matters regarding the global status and development of hockey, has ended with various crucial decisions. In the closest of votes, Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra of India was re-elected as President of the FIH, being awarded a second four-year term. Of the 124 votes submitted by member National Associations, Dr Batra attained the required absolute majority of more than half the votes, receiving 63 votes to the 61 given to Marc Coudron of Belgium. Dr Batra will hold the position until 2024. “I would personally like to thank all of the National Associations for showing faith in me by electing me for a second term as President of FIH”, said Dr Batra, who congratulated Marc Coudron on his campaign. “I pledge my assurance to you all that I will work towards my election priorities over the next three years.” In addition to Dr Batra’s re-election, Danae Andrada Barrios and Hazel Kennedy were both re-elected to the FIH Executive Board as women’s members. Danae Andrada Barrios and Hazel Kennedy received 70 and 66 votes respectively, just ahead of Inez Cooper who received 63 votes. Tayyab Ikram and Erik Cornelissen were re-elected unopposed to the FIH Executive Board as men’s members. In the President’s Report to Congress, Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra detailed the efforts made by the FIH since the previous 46th FIH Congress that took place in New Delhi, India in 2018, referring to the launch of various new events including the FIH Hockey Pro League, FIH Nations Cup and FIH Hockey5s World Cup as well as the approval of the eight-year global hockey calendar. Dr Batra also talked about the progress made in terms of development, promotion – in particular the success of the Watch.Hockey app -, governance and sustainability, referencing the commitment to develop a water-less turf for hockey in the years ahead. In his report, FIH Chief Executive Officer Thierry Weil highlighted the 225 courses that had been organised by the FIH Academy over the past year and the 50 projects completed through the Olympic Solidarity scheme. With 2 million USD invested, development remains top priority for the world governing body. Additionally, the State of the Game survey revealed that global participation had risen from 29.6 million to 30.1 million, with fantastic growth being achieved in ParaHockey / Hockey ID, where participation has doubled thanks to support from the Continental Federations (CFs) and National Associations (NAs) The significance of the FIH Hockey Pro League and Hockey5s were also raised, with Thierry Weil stating that the former is well on its way to fulfilling its mission to promote hockey worldwide despite the challenges of the COVID-19 global health pandemic, while the latter will mark itself as a wonderful ‘entry gate’ to the sport that will serve to complement – not replace – the 11-a-side and indoor formats. The rise of E-sports and gaming was also flagged by the FIH CEO as an area for potential expansion in the future. The FIH Financial Report was also submitted to Congress and subsequently approved. The significant investment made into the launch of the FIH Hockey Pro League resulted a loss of 1.5million CHF for the 2019 edition, with 2020 breaking even. Due to signed contracts in place, both the 2021 and 2022 editions of the FIH Hockey Pro League are set to achieve profitability. Signed contracts for the next Women’s and Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup events in 2022 (Women – Spain & The Netherlands) and 2023 (Men – India) are set to generate around 7million CHF in profit for FIH. The financial statements for 2018-2019 were prepared by auditor Ernst & Young, which was re-appointed by Congress for the coming period, and circulated to all NAs and CFs ahead of Congress. The Congress approved applications for membership from three National Associations, with Timor Leste Hockey Federation, Hockey Association of Gambia and Saudi Arabian Hockey Federation all being accepted after the Executive Board expressed its satisfaction that their applications met the requirements of the Statutes. Congress approval means that the number of Member Associations of the FIH has risen to 140. A vote on the admission as FIH Member of a new National Association in Indonesia, which is recognised by the Indonesian NOC, was unable to proceed as Congress did not ratify the decision to expel the current National Association, which had not fulfilled their obligations. The Congress ratified some amendments to the FIH Statutes, including the use of gender-neutral terms throughout the Statutes themselves, as recommended by the Women in Sports Committee’s review of the FIH Gender Equality Policy. In anticipation of future virtual competitions or activities, E-Games were also added to the Statutes in order to extend FIH’s purpose and powers. The subscription system to the FIH, which remains unchanged to previous years, was also ratified by Congress. In line with the existing FIH Statutes, the appointment of George Bennett as the President of the FIH Judicial Commission – a group of legal advisors that acts as mediator in FIH legal matters – was ratified by Congress. George Bennett has held the position since 8 May 2020, taking over the role following the sad passing of previous incumbent Annabel Pennefather, one of many whose memory was honoured by a moment of silence at the start of session. While the vast majority of the FIH Award winners were revealed on Friday, the FIH President’s Awards – which are given to individuals for long and valuable services to hockey, whether direct or indirect – were saved for the Congress session itself, with 10 awardees being revealed. Pawan Munjal: Joined Hero Honda Motors in the early 1980s and took over as Managing Director of Hero Honda Motors in 2001, successfully overseeing the company’s transition from Hero Honda to Hero Motocorp in 2011. Francesco Ricci Bitti: An Italian sports administrator and former President of the International Tennis Federation, Francesco Ricci Bitti was a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations Council
FIH partners with GTG to launch its first-ever hockey manager game
20 May 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: Always wanted to be managing a hockey team but you haven’t quite reached that step yet? Here’s a great place to start: a hockey manager game! For the first time in its history, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has engaged on a 5-year partnership with a gaming company – Gold Town Games (GTG) – which will develop a hockey manager game, available on mobile, planned to be released globally before the end of 2021 on Google Play and the App Store. The game will be free to download. GTG is a Swedish, publicly listed, mobile game developer and publisher that makes competitive, intuitive and social sport manager applications. The company currently has three sport manager games in ice hockey, in football and, by autumn 2021, in American football. “It is an honor for us at Gold Town Games to be able to produce the world’s first mobile hockey manager game. It will be a challenge but also lots of fun and hopefully we can please the fans. The game of hockey has old, strong roots and it’s going to be exciting to develop and publish a game to its broad and growing global fan base”, said Gold Town Games CEO Pär Hultgren. Commenting on the announcement, FIH CEO Thierry Weil said: “As an International Federation, entering the gaming world is a must nowadays, frankly. We’re glad to be partnering with GTG to help us doing this with a high-quality product. The hockey manager game will add significant promotion to our sport by bringing it to the attention of the huge gaming community around the world. From there, I do believe that a number of gamers will become hockey fans as well, and possibly even hockey athletes. That would be a really great outcome. Furthermore, with this new initiative, we’re also providing hockey lovers with a game they’ve been waiting for since a long time.” Whilst the mobile manager game is currently being developed, here are some of the great functionalities which will be on offer: Create your own hockey club and draft a team of players Build and develop up your hockey stadium, academy and training facilities Set your team tactics, win games against live opponents Advance to the top in the global hockey league and compete for tournament prices Join a social league with your friends to challenge others Keep up to date with all the latest news on the FIH Hockey Pro League via the Watch.Hockey app, event website and through FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. #HockeyInvites
EB holds last meeting before Congress
20 May 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: Meeting virtually ahead of the 47th FIH Congress, the Executive Board (EB) of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) approved a 5-year partnership with a gaming company – Gold Town Games (GTG) – which will develop a hockey manager game, available on mobile, planned to be released globally before the end of 2021 on Google Play and the App Store. The game will be free to download. Furthermore, the EB confirmed the appointment of four new members for the Athletes’ Committee. Sreejesh Parattu (IND), Marlena Rybacha (POL), Mohamed Mea (RSA) and Matt Swann (AUS) are now joining the Committee. It also approved the appointment of Steve Horgan (USA) as the new Chair of the FIH Rules Committee, succeeding David Collier (England), whose term will be ending at the upcoming Congress. Various updates were given during the meeting about development, FIH events – including the FIH Hockey Pro League and the upcoming Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 -, finances, sport matters, governance, TV, commercial, marketing-communications matters and of course about the final preparations for the 47th FIH Congress session will be held virtually on 22 May. The Congress agenda is available here. As already announced, all Congress delegates have been invited to join tomorrow, Friday 21 May, a #HockeyInvites virtual conference organised by FIH where a number of topics, such as development, sport matters, gender-equality, promotion or integrity, will be discussed. The FIH Awards will be announced on this occasion too. Both the #HockeyInvites conference and the Congress session can be watched live on Watch.Hockey as follows: #HockeyInvites conference: 21 May, from 11am until 3pm CEST (note: end time is flexible) Congress session: 22 May, from 11am to 3:30pm CEST (note: end time is flexible) For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.
Olympic Capital to welcome first ever senior World Hockey5s event organised by FIH
27 April 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to announce that it will organise its first ever senior World Hockey5s event on 11 and 12 September 2021, in Lausanne, Switzerland. It will offer an exciting mix of intense competition, music entertainment and additional activities, such as initiations or demonstrations, to showcase hockey and engage further with the public. Access to ‘FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021’ will be free of charge and the event will be broadcasted live across the world on the Watch.Hockey platform. Five male and five female national teams, including some of the powerhouses of international hockey, will compete: Switzerland, England, Germany, India, Malaysia (Men) Switzerland, England, Germany, India, South Africa (Women) Hockey5s is played with 5 athletes per team. It is particularly known for its non-stop end to end action, since the ball is in play for about 90% of a match, thanks to rebound-boards placed against the outside of the side-lines and back-lines. Furthermore, there are usually more goals with Hockey5s than with the more traditional 11-a-side format of hockey, since players can score from anywhere after the attacking line. Also, Hockey5s is played on a smaller pitch, which enables to bring hockey to people in new and unexpected venues, sometimes even at the heart of the cities. Precisely, FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021 will be staged on the Place de la Navigation, an iconic location near the Lac Léman bordering the Olympic Capital. Played in about 70 countries in the world, Hockey5s was the most attended sport at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with no less than 200’000 spectators! In 2019, in order to further boost the development of hockey globally through Hockey5s, the FIH Executive Board decided to create an FIH Hockey5s World Cup – with the inaugural edition planned in 2023 – and, in the near future, a Hockey5s World Tour, which will consist of events similar to Lausanne’s. Commenting on FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2021, FIH CEO Thierry Weil stated: “Hockey5s is a great format to promote our sport and especially introduce it to sports fans not yet familiar with hockey. I invite everyone to come to this world event and enjoy the speed, skills and fun of our game!” In an exclusive interview to FIH, Swiss Women’s national team player Sae Fontana said she’s “really excited about playing some of the best teams of the world! As early adopters of Hockey5s, we want to gain a competitive advantage, to get better rapidly, as a small country. Hockey5s is definitely a faster game, which makes it very intense as a player. Also, there are many more possibilities to score a goal, to get creative. The individual skills of each player are quite important, and there is more ball contact for each player since there are less players on the field of play.” Reflecting on Hockey5s, South African coach Tsoanelo Pholo said in an exclusive interview to FIH: “Hockey5s [is] an initiator into hockey, a developer into the full field version. If you have a Hockey5s court in three or four places in the country, I’m telling you now, we are going to have way more hockey players in developing countries. That is a dream of the FIH, to ensure that we touch as many lives as we can with hockey. Because hockey has given me and so many others so much, I would love to see that opportunity be given to many other people, especially youth. I think it is going to grow massively in the smaller countries. I think that is exactly what Hockey5s is about.” For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.
Upcoming FIH Congress to be held virtually
20 April 2021 Lausanne, Switzerland: After a thorough analysis, the FIH Executive Board (EB) recently decided to give the possibility to each National Association delegate to decide whether they would attend the 47th FIH Statutory Congress either onsite – in Delhi, India – or virtually via an online platform. However, considering the latest information available about the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is worrying both in India and in many other countries of the world, as well as the impact of this situation on international travel, the EB has now decided, upon proposal from FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, to review its previous decision and instead opt for a virtual Congress only, on the same date (22 May 2021). Even though the FIH Congress usually is a wonderful opportunity for the global hockey community members to meet in person, it has always been very clear for FIH that the first of the priorities should be the safety and health of all Congress delegates and their families. The Congress agenda will be published on 22 April. It includes, amongst others, elections for the position of FIH President and for four positions of EB Ordinary Member. For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.
AfHF Press Release | 30 Dec. 2020 – Revised Event Dates and other important announcements
PRESS RELEASE – AFRICAN HOCKEY SUMMIT 2020
