The Hague gets Hockey World Cup

The Netherlands was awarded the organisation of a large-scale international event, the Hockey World Championships for men and women in 2014. The matches will take place from 2 to 15 June 2014 in the ADO stadium in The Hague.

The Netherlands last hosted the double Hockey World Cup (for men and women) in Utrecht in 1998. 

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had to choose between the Netherlands and England, which wanted to hold the two Hockey World Champions in the forthcoming Olympic city of London. The committee submitted a unanimous recommendation for the Netherlands. The Dutch National Hockey Association (KNHB) and FIH will organise the tournament as equal partners.

Warming-up events

A possible winning factor was the amount of € 4 million which the Netherlands is providing to host the World Cup in 2014 as well as the Champions Trophy in 2011 and the World Level Event for women, a new tournament in 2013.

The strength of a double World Cup is that a Dutch team plays every day. This should mean a packed stadium for 14 days straight. The KNHB believes that the event will attract some 160,000 spectators.

In addition to the ADO stadium (15,000 seats), a temporary second location will accommodate 5,000 people.

This will be the largest sporting event ever held in The Hague.