Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has confirmed that 13th-ranked Pakistan will participate in the Hockey Pro League – a league that was supposed to feature the nine best teams from around the world. The new league, which is due to launch in January 2019, will see the best men’s and women’s teams from around the world play each other both at home and away across a total of 144 games every year. The fixtures will take place in national stadiums – week in, week out – from January to June. Pakistan take on Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England/Great Britain, Germany, India, Netherlands and New Zealand. The Greenshirts have agreed a co-hosting partnership with Scottish Hockey and will play their home matches in Glasgow due to security concerns back home. The confirmation of the teams follows approval from the FIH executive board, whose decision was based on recommendations from the FIH Event Portfolio Implementation Panel (EPIP) tasked with assessing each of the candidate’s applications.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary general Shahbaz Ahmed revealed Monday that PHF’s request to hold home matches in Scotland had been approved by the FIH. “With a large Pakistani community in Scotland, the stadium is expected to be packed with passionate supporters,” he said. “This means Pakistan will now be able to host top hockey-playing nations such as Australia, Argentina, Netherlands and Germany, but the government will need to support hockey.” Ahmed feels the pros of playing in Scotland far outweigh the cons. “If we look at the benefits we can reap from this, then the expenditures are nothing,” he said. “At some stage, we need to take that step to revive hockey in Pakistan. The younger generations are no longer interested in choosing professional careers in hockey and that needs to change.”