WHY YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED FOR THE OPENING MATCHES OF THE WORLD CUP

Ahead of the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup, the below feature explores what makes this year's tournament unique, with the men's and women's competitions being held together across Belgium and the Netherlands.

This article was written by Joshua McDougall & Dom Gasparich in collaboration with Hockey New Zealand.

Picture the All Blacks walking out to a sold-out Ellis Park in Johannesburg for a test against South Africa, or the White Ferns taking the field at Lord's in London for a World Cup opener against England.

Pretty awesome, right?

That's the scale of occasion awaiting New Zealand's Vantage Black Sticks men's and women's teams as they open their campaigns at the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 in the Netherlands and Belgium.

For hockey, there is no bigger stage than a Dutch home game at a World Cup. New Zealand's men will get exactly that on 17 August (2:00am NZT), walking out at Amstelveen's Wagener Stadium, which has seen its capacity temporarily boosted past 10,000 for the tournament, to face host nation and world No. 2-ranked Netherlands.

The Dutch arrive with serious pedigree: three World Cup titles (1973, 1990 and 1998, the last two coming on home soil), and they head into this tournament as reigning Olympic champions after gold in Paris in 2024. New Zealand round out Pool A against Argentina and Japan, all at Wagener Stadium.

Vantage Black Sticks striker Sam Lane says it's the kind of match players dream about: "In terms of the games you want to play in, opening against the Dutch at home in our first World Cup match gets the adrenaline going just thinking about it. They're a passionate crowd and love to be entertained. I remember watching the 2014 World Cup match against the Dutch and hoping one day I'd get to experience that."

New Zealand's women face an equally exciting assignment against host nation and world No. 3-ranked Belgium at the newly built Belfius Hockey Arena in Wavre. It will be amongst the first World Cup matches the venue, recently converted from a football stadium, will ever host. The match hits off on 17 August (3:30am NZT), with Belgian fans expected to be in fine voice for the occasion.

Belgium's Red Panthers have been a fixture at the World Cup since 1974, with a best finish of third back in 1978, and they arrive on the back of a fourth-place finish at the Paris 2024 Olympics and back-to-back third-place finishes in the FIH Hockey Pro League. On the evidence of the Vantage Black Sticks' form at the recent Nations Cup on home soil in Auckland, New Zealand will be well placed to compete fiercely against the hosts.

Captain Olivia Shannon says, “The squad​ has put in a huge amount of work building toward the tournament, and that opening against Belgium on home soil adds an extra edge to what's already a massive occasion.”

A World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium, two of the world's true hockey meccas, is an incredible experience for any of the 16 competing nations. Club hockey in the Dutch and Belgian leagues carries a true prestige. It's widely regarded as the level every serious hockey player aspires to test themselves against at some stage in their career. Current World Cup squad members Kane Russell, Nic Woods and others have all spent time playing professionally in Europe.

Vantage Black Sticks Women's Head Coach Phil Burrows was one of the trail blazers for Kiwi’s playing overseas having built a 12-year European playing career after leaving the Wellington club scene for the Netherlands in 2004.

“I wanted to put myself somewhere that challenged me every day. In Holland, it wasn’t just the games, four or five times a week you were training alongside players who demanded more of you,” said Burrows.

“When the level around you rises, you have no choice but to rise with it.”

Closer to home, the emergence of the Premier Hockey League means players don't always have to travel to be exposed to elite competition, it's brought genuine high-level hockey right into our own backyard. While not a professional competition, the league has attracted international talent to Aotearoa, and a strong World Cup campaign only adds to continuing this growth.

"The point was never that players had to leave. The point was that they had to be stretched. PHL means we can do some of that stretching at home," said Burrows.

For New Zealand audiences, the best chance to catch both teams in pool play on the same night comes on 18 August when the men face Japan at 7:30pm, followed by the women against Ireland at 9pm. Both matches will stream live on Watch Hockey.