MUMBAI: The International Hockey Federation (IHF) has launched Hockey World League (HWL), a four-round, two-year event which will serve as the qualifier for both the Hockey World Cup and the Olympic Games and will record national teams taking part in FIH events.

"I am very proud to launch the Hockey World League today," FIH President Leandro Negre said at the launch on the day of the women?s Olympic gold medal game. "This has been a vision of the FIH?s for a long time and at last the day is here that we see it become a reality."

The first round will be made up of 11 tournaments with the historic first game taking place in just four days in the Czech Republic when the Scotland and Turkey women?s national teams meet on 14 August.

In total men?s and women?s national teams from over 60 nations will take part in the first edition of the Hockey World League. For 19 of the countries, it will be their first-ever appearance in an FIH competition.

"Never before has an international hockey competition been open to such a wide range of teams and athletes,"Negre said. "We sit here in London ready to watch the gold medal game today and four years from now in Rio more than 2000 athletes will have been a part of the qualification process for the next Olympics. It is truly an exciting time for hockey."

Those 2,000 athletes will accumulate around 6,000 caps and will gather FIH World Ranking points that were never-before available. In addition, around 300 officials will have the chance to take part in the World League.

"This is a two-tiered approach," said FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather. "Not only does it give the FIH a clear qualification structure for the World Cup and Olympics, but it also provides a massive development opportunity for all areas of hockey. Who knows, what the hockey landscape will look like in Rio, maybe a team from Round 1 will be with us at the next Olympics."

MUMBAI: Taking a major leap forward to promote hockey, the FIH has introduced World League that will also double up as qualifiers for World Cup and Olympic Qualifiers.

To be played every two years, the final of the World League will be held in India in February 2014 while the women?s final will be played in December 2013 in Argentina. The league will begin in August after the London Olympics.

"There are about 80 men and 58 women teams that have shown the desire to compete. The competition will also be a qualifier for the Olympics and the World Cup," FIH president Leandro Negre said announcing the league."Eight top teams from the League will join the top-eight FIH teams to play the finals."

From 2014, Olympics and World Cup spots will be filled by one host country (subject to IOC agreement for Olympics), five places for continental champions and six or seven team from World League.

The FIH is also planning to chalk out its Future Teams Programme on the lines of ICC.

?We have a planned schedule till the 2014 World Cup, and in our next Congress we will discuss on the 2014-2018 calendar. It would be based on our two pillars?the World Cup and the Olympics. This is a work in progress and the goal is to have hockey played continuously," explained FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather.

"And every alternate year we would have the Champions Trophy. The thing is we have to squeeze in tournaments like your Asian Games, the Champions Challenge and Sultan Azlan Shah. We haven?t yet finalised on it, but it certainly is top on our agenda."