FIH Pro League Field Hockey 2019 Season Begins in Valencia
The inaugural game of the Pro League series is on 19th January in Valencia. Spain’s men take on Belgium, who are the current world champions, and pre-season favourites to win the competition. On 25th January at the Estadio Betaro stadium, Spain then go on to tackle another strong Great British team, which is essentially the England side. The FIH Pro League men’s and women’s competition has an almighty 144 game schedule and a grand finale of a further 8 games, which will include 20 venues and 11 nations. The third match of the series kicks off the women’s competition in Argentina on 26th January between the hosts Argentina and Belgium.
Home Advantage Could Swing The Odds @ Betway
Part of the excitement in any competition is determining who may have an advantage, and ultimately predicting who will win. Some of us are better than others at weighing up the odds, especially if we’re placing a bet. However, the easiest way is to log onto an online bookmaker and they will do it for you. The good news is that at the moment there are only nine men’s and nine women’s teams competing, and so following the form should be relatively straight forward. Typically, bookies will shorten the odds in this situation but in an effort to encourage more customers, it’s possible to pick up some pretty handsome odds.
The FIH Pro League Lights the Touch Paper Of A Global Effect
Field hockey, like a lot of other sports has established national seasons and training regimes that naturally go with it. However, for any sport to survive financially and be successful in the brutal media scrum for TV coverage, the sport must appeal to an international audience. Primarily, field hockey in general has to adapt to a non-seasonal approach to its schedules for training. Recently, USA head coach, Janneke Schopman, shared his thoughts on the subject of change in the sport. Schopman explained that although he was excited about the Pro League, he also understands that it will require changing the current training schedule in order to be successful. Schopman said, “it’s a step into the unknown,” but he realises that it’s going to be an essential part of showcasing and growing the sport of field hockey.
A Good Deal For The FIH and Great News For Field Hockey Fans
December, 2018, saw the announcement that the FIH had signed a four-year partnership deal with Global Sports Commerce (GSC). Effectively, this means greater media exposure, and fantastic news for field hockey fans everywhere. The deal is to include the FIH Pro League 2019 to 2022, series finals 2019 to 2021, and Olympic qualifiers, men and women 2019. The FIH has also delivered on its commitment to engaging the hockey community further by developing its global broadcast platform ‘FIH live’. It was launched on 10th January 2019, and will provide live competition hockey action on screen. The future looks incredibly bright indeed for field hockey in general and its exponents worldwide.
The Eleven Countries Taking Part in the competition are:
- Argentina – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Australia – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Belgium – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Germany – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Great Britain – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Netherlands – Men’s & Women’s competition
- New Zealand – Men’s & Women’s competition
- Pakistan – Men’s competition
- Spain – Men’ competition
- USA – Women’s competition
- China – Women’s competition
