African Hockey Federation | One year to go until Hockey Women's World Cup London 2018

July 21, 2017

Friday 21 July marks one year to go until the Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 gets underway at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park’s Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre.

With the public ticket ballot set to open on 19 August and the final teams qualifying over the next few weeks, excitement is really beginning to grow ahead of this blockbuster event.

Register for Public Ticket Ballot

Following the conclusion of the semi-final stage of the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday, 11 teams have guaranteed qualification thanks to their final standings in both World Cup qualifying events.

Hosts England await the arrival of reigning champions Netherlands as well as China, New Zealand, Korea and Australia who finished in the top five spots at the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final in Brussels, Belgium. The second Hockey World League Semi-Final, in Johannesburg, South Africa, saw Argentina, Germany, USA, Japan and South Africa book their tickets to London after finishing top of the standings there.

Whilst the top five teams are guaranteed qualification for the women’s World Cup, England’s qualification for the semi-final stages in Johannesburg meant that they will finish in the top four. With Japan and South Africa playing in the fifth versus sixth classification match on Saturday 22 July, both teams have guaranteed qualification for London due to the fact that the highest ranked sixth place finisher in Brussels was Italy (16) who are ranked lower than both Japan (11) and South Africa (13)*.

The remaining five World Cup qualifiers will be the winners of the Continental Championships taking place between August and November 2017. If one of the continental winners has already qualified through the Hockey World League then teams will qualify based on their final position at the Semi-Finals and their respective FIH Hero World Ranking (as of 1 August 2017) compared to one another.

With more than two thirds of teams now qualified, fans can now bid to secure tickets to the event through England Hockey’s Public Ballot and can pre-register before 19 August 2017. Finals, Semi-Finals and England matches will sell out so we urge you not to wait if you want to be there to witness the drama.

On 19 August 2017 all fans who have pre-registered for the women’s World Cup in London will receive an email with a link through to the Ballot tickets website. There will also be a link on this site through to the ballot entry pages from 19 August.

The public will be able to apply for as many matches as they want. Tickets to matches will be limited to six per England session.

Applicants can tick an “upgrade me” box, which will enter them into the ballot for the next price category if unsuccessful in their first request.

The Public Ballot will close on 6 September 2017. Payment will only be taken if ticket requests are successful after the Public Ballot closes.

Successful applicants will be selected at random. For additional information about the Women’s World Cup and the Public Ballot, check out our Q&A.

Find out who will take the remaining spots in the Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018 by following the Continental Championships through FIH.ch over the coming weeks as well as through our social media channels including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

*Rankings as of 10 April 2017

Source: FIH