Austria arrive in Hyderabad for FIH World Cup 2026 Qualifiers

March 5, 2026

Hyderabad: The Austria women’s national field hockey team touched down in Hyderabad ahead of the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup 2026 Qualifiers. The tournament will witness eight nations compete for three crucial qualification spots for the marquee event in Belgium and the Netherlands in August later this year.

Austria aim to qualify after decades

Austria have a rich history at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup, having appeared in three of the first four editions of the competition. However, they haven’t qualified for the premier event since 1981.

Led by Johanna Czech, Austria will compete against England women’s national field hockey team, Italy women’s national field hockey team and South Korea women’s national field hockey team in Pool A, as they look to script history and secure a qualification spot for the first time in 45 years.

Captain expresses excitement to play in India

Looking forward to the competition, the Captain stated, “This is the first time in India for all of us. So, we are excited and we want to play really good hockey. Our preparation ahead of the tournament was short – we had only one training session – but we’re going to give our best. We’ve got some training sessions here before our games, and we are going to leave everything on the pitch.”

Italy also reaches Hyderabad for qualifiers

Earlier, on Thursday, the Italy women’s national field hockey team arrived in Hyderabad.

Scheduled from March 8 to 14, eight nations will compete for three crucial berths for the much-anticipated tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands later this year in August.

Italy have been placed in Pool A, where they will face England women’s national field hockey team, South Korea women’s national field hockey team and Austria women’s national field hockey team. The European side has previously qualified for the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup twice, first in 1976 and most recently in 2018, where they recorded their best-ever finish of ninth place.

Italy will open their campaign with a clash against England women’s national field hockey team on March 8, followed by matches against Austria women’s national field hockey team and South Korea women’s national field hockey team on March 9 and 11 respectively.