Schedule announced for Hockey World League Final

The schedule for the Hockey World League Final in Raipur has been announced ©FIH

The Netherlands will begin their Hockey World League Final title defence with a London 2012 gold medal rematch against Germany after the International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed the schedule for the event in Raipur, India.

The clash between the two hockey heavyweights, also a repeat of the recent EuroHockey Championships gold medal match on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, which the Dutch comfortably won 6-1, takes place on November 27, with the competition running through to December 6.

In a slight change from previous editions of the season-ending event, the first to ever be held at the 3,000-capacity Raipur International Hockey Stadium, two matches will take place each day, with four scheduled for November 28.

The pool matches will be held from November 27 to December 1, with the quarter-finals following on December 2 and 3.

Semi-final encounters will come to the fore on December 4 and 5 and the gold medal clash will round off proceedings on December 6.

The world’s top hockey teams are due to compete at the Hockey World League Final competition, with number one ranked Australia coming into the event having claimed victory at the recent Semi-Final tournament in Antwerp as they beat hosts Belgium 1-0 thanks to a late Chris Ciriello winner.

Image title — The Netherlands will begin their Hockey World League Final title defence when they taken on Germany on the opening day of the event in Raipur ©Getty Images

Belgium will be looking to recover from the disappointment of their dramatic defeat at the hands of Australia and they will be joined at the event by Great Britain, Argentina, Canada and hosts India, as well as the Dutch, who edged New Zealand in the 2012-13 final in New Delhi, and Olympic champions Germany.

The match between the Germans and the Netherlands is one of two to take place in Pool B on the opening day as the game will follow Argentina’s clash with India.

Britain, Canada, Australia and Belgium make up Pool A.

The event in Raipur has also attracted a healthy amount of broadcast interest and will be screened on several channels across the world including Indian-based Star Sports, Canal Siete in Argentina, Dutch channell NOS and Malaysia’s Astro.

OSN, based in North Africa and the United Arab Emirates, Supersport of South Africa, Pakistan-based PTV and American station Willow TV will also show live coverage of the tournament.