India’s men’s hockey coach Craig Fulton has made it clear that securing World Cup qualification through the FIH Hockey Pro League is a top priority as the team heads into the European leg of the tournament. Currently third in the standings, India trails England and Belgium by just one point, with those two sitting at 16 points each.
The Pro League winner automatically qualifies for the World Cup, but since Belgium and the Netherlands have already qualified as hosts, and Germany as defending champions, the next highest-ranked team in the Pro League could also clinch a spot. Fulton stressed that while India can still qualify by winning the Asia Cup in August (which will be held in Bihar), their primary goal is to finish as high as possible in the Pro League standings.
Fulton said, “I think it’s pretty clear that this is one of the ways of securing qualification for the World Cup. So we are putting that as a priority to try and qualify through the Pro League. Obviously, if it doesn’t work out, we have the Asia Cup in August in Bihar, in India, but we’ve been training well for this, so we really want to try and finish as high as we possibly can and get on the podium.”
He noted that since Australia, Holland, and Belgium are already qualified (with Australia being last year’s champions), the next best-placed team will get the qualifying spot.
Looking ahead, India’s European schedule starts with two matches against the Netherlands on June 7 and 9, followed by a double-header against Argentina on June 11 and 12 in Amstelveen. Then they move to Antwerp for matches against Australia on June 14 and 15, and Belgium on June 21 and 22.
Fulton emphasized a focused, game-by-game approach: “We’re realistically going one game at a time. We’re trying to get maximum points out of every single game. So we’re not looking too far ahead. We have one game tomorrow. We need to try and get maximum points out of that. We can get a draw or win out of that. That’s our focus.”
He added the importance of squad rotation to keep players fresh across the demanding schedule of eight matches: “We have 24 players, we have to roll the dice and move and keep the squad fresh to get through all 8 games over the period of time.”
Fulton remains optimistic, highlighting the good preparation ahead of tough opponents, “We’ve played some top teams already in Spain, Germany, England, and Ireland. That part of the Pro League is done. Now we come to Europe to play Australia, Holland, Belgium, and Argentina. We’ve got good plans in place for all those teams.”
In summary, India is prioritizing World Cup qualification through the Pro League, aiming to maximize points in each match and taking a measured approach to each upcoming game on their European tour.
