Spain’s seventh place finish in Hockey World League Semi-Final earns World Cup qualification
World Cup berth confirmed after Belgium lose semi-final at Rabo EuroHockey Championships 2017
Three places still available to winners of remaining Continental Championships
Spain’s Red Sticks have become the latest team to qualify for the Hockey Women’s World Cup London 2018.
Their place at next summer’s global showpiece, which takes place from 21 July to 5 August 2018 at the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, was confirmed following Belgium’s 0-3 defeat to Netherlands in the final of the Rabo EuroHockey Championships 2017.
Under FIH regulations, the team that wins its continental qualifier automatically qualifies for the World Cup. Of the four European semi-finalists in Amsterdam, Belgium were the only team that had not already booked a ticket to the World Cup, with Germany, Netherlands and host nation England having all achieved the required top five finishes at the Hockey World League Semi-Final events earlier this summer.
Defeat for the Red Panthers ensures that the winner of the European continental championship is certain to be a nation that has already achieved World Cup qualification, meaning that the ticket goes to the highest placed finisher from the Hockey World League Semi-Finals that has not already qualified.
Spain’s Red Sticks, currently ranked 10th in the FIH Hero World Rankings, finished in seventh position in the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Final in Brussels. They take the World Cup ticket by virtue of being higher ranked than Ireland, who finished seventh at the Hockey World League Semi-Final in Johannesburg, with the Green Machine now next in line for that all-important World Cup ticket.
Spain become the 13th team to qualify for next year’s global showpiece, joining host nation England, Argentina, Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and USA.
The event in London with be Spain’s 11th appearance at a women’s Hockey World Cup. A fourth place finish at the 2006 event – which was played on home soil in Madrid – remains their best performance to date, something that Adrian Lock’s charges will be determined to change next summer.
The final three women’s World Cup qualification places will be decided by the outcomes of the upcoming Continental Championship events in Oceania (9-15 October 2017), Africa (19-29 October 2017) and Asia (28 October-5 November 2017).
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