Content Courtesy of FIH

Between Wednesday, May 12 and Sunday, May 16, 2021, a total of six FIH Hockey Pro League matches will take place on European soil, with Great Britain hosting the national teams of Germany in London while USA women travel to Antwerp to face Belgium.

The Great Britain versus Germany contests will be played on Wednesday, May 12 and Thursday, May 13, with all four competing teams relishing the opportunity to face high quality opposition ahead of a busy summer of hockey that peaks at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where both Great Britain and Germany face each other in the pool phase of both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Sitting third in both the FIH Hockey Pro League standings and FIH World Rankings, Germany men will arrive in London confident of success against hosts Great Britain, and with good reason. Die Honamas have recorded back-to-back away double victories over world class opposition in the shape of The Netherlands and reigning Olympic champions Argentina, with the team coached by Kais al Saadi hitting form not just in time for the Tokyo Olympiad, but also June’s European Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

While Germany might start as favorites, Danny Kerry’s talented Great Britain team will be eager to upset the form book, especially on home soil. Great Britain have not been in Pro League action since suffering narrow defeats in The Netherlands and Belgium in October-November. However, a recent warm-weather training trip to Malaysia, where the team played friendly matches against the Malaysians and Japan, ensures that they will be ready for action.

The women’s meeting between Great Britain and Germany could be a close one to call. Fourth placed Great Britain are one point ahead of Die Danas in the FIH Hockey Pro League standings, although Germany do have two games in hand over their British opponents. Two victories for either team would be enough to climb up to third position in the League table.

The matches in Antwerp sees seventh placed Belgium taking on bottom of the table USA, a team that have been unable to play an FIH Hockey Pro League match since mid-February 2020, when they suffered two 3-1 defeats against New Zealand in Christchurch. Since then, the USA has appointed Australian Anthony Farry – the man who guided Japan women to the Asian Games title in 2018 – as their new head coach. USA’s arrival in Europe will mark the start of a new chapter for the team, as they begin to plan for the years ahead. For Belgium’s Red Panthers, the matches against the USA are crucial to their build-up toward next month’s European Championships, a competition in which they were silver medalists in 2017.

Although fans will not be allowed into the respective stadiums, the matches will be available to watch on television or digital streaming thanks to our broadcast partnerships, as well as on the Watch.Hockey app in every country where a rights holding broadcaster is not showing the matches live.

More information about the upcoming matches can be found below.

Belgium v USA (Women)

Where: Sportcentrum Wilrijkse Plein, Antwerp (BEL)
Dates: Saturday, May 15 & Sunday, May 16, 2021

Times (CET – UTC +2): Saturday: 17:30 (11:30 a.m. ET) | Sunday 17:30 (11:30 a.m. ET)
Match pages: Match 1 | Match 2

Current FIH World Ranking: Belgium: 12 | USA: 15
Current FIH Hockey Pro League position: Belgium: 7 | USA: 9
Final standings - FIH Hockey Pro League 2019: Belgium: 5 | USA: 9

Head-to-heads in all competitions (since 2013 – 5 matches)
Wins: Belgium: 3 | USA: 2 | Draws: 0
Goals scored: Belgium: 11 | USA: 6

Team pages (squads & statistics): Belgium | USA

You can also keep up to date with all the latest news on the FIH Hockey Pro League via the event website and through FIH social media channels -Facebook , Instagram and Twitter.

#FIHProLeague | #HockeyInvites | #PlayHockeyStayHealthy

Great Britain, Germany, Belgium & USA Prepare for FIH Hockey Pro League Fixture

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