India beat host nation Spain 1-0 to win the inaugural women’s tournament held in Valencia last weekend.

Earlier in the month, South Africa won the men’s event held on their home soil in Potchefstroom by defeating Ireland in the final.

"it was important for FIH to create an event for teams not playing the FIH Hockey Pro League but still being very highly ranked," Ikram said.

"I’ve had many talks with coaches, players, officials and National Association representatives, and there is a clear consensus that this important opportunity for second-tier teams to compete at a high level has been missing from our calendar."

Victory in the nations league carries promotion to the the FIH Hockey Pro League.

“We did not want the FIH Hockey Pro League to be a closed league, the principle of promotion-relegation in sport is only natural and fair," Ikram, elected as FIH President last month to replace Narinder Batra, said.

The Nations League is set to continue as an annual event and is seen as an important tool in developing hockey.

"When we look at development activities, we almost systematically think about programmes for grassroots, coaching, administration and this is correct and absolutely necessary, but creating an event like the Nations Cup does also boost the development of our sport globally." Ikram said.

"It helps putting nations on hockey’s world map."

The Pakistani revealed that other projects were also under examination.

"We will start very soon to see how and where we can best engage even more nations, in addition to Pro League and the Nations Cup, in order to provide suitable performance and development opportunities for more teams, more athletes, and more officials," Ikram promised.

The New Year is set to begin with a bang when the FIH Men’s World Cup is scheduled to begin in Indian city Bhubaneswar on January 13 and conclude with the final on January 29.