An elite global field hockey competition is coming to Dublin in the next couple of weeks, with the FIH Hockey Pro League kicking off its seventh season with a tournament on the Sport Ireland Campus from December 9th to 14th. Over the course of six days, teams from six countries, including Ireland for the first time, will compete in a total of twelve matches. This tournament will feature both men’s and women’s teams, with Ireland, England, and Belgium competing in the women’s competition, and England, Belgium, and Germany represented in the men’s event.
Colloquially referred to as the “league of the best”, FIH Pro Hockey League’s global competition in 2025 will feature Argentina, Australia, Belgium, China, England, Pakistan, India, Germany, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands between both men and women. Historically, the Netherlands have set the standard in the Pro League. Their men’s team has claimed three of the six titles to date, while the Dutch women have been even more dominant, winning five of the six championships played. Coming off a championship in 2024-2025, The Netherlands will look to continue their success in Argentina where their season kicks off.
The league was created in 2019 to replace the once prominent Champions Trophy in an effort to centralise the best competition and increase visibility of a rapidly growing sport. Additionally, the league’s points and ranking system carries some of the highest stakes in international sport, as performances in the Pro League significantly influence teams’ Olympic rankings in the global point system.
While the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has been the governing body of global field hockey rules, regulations, and initiatives for over a century, the FIH Pro Hockey League, featuring the world’s most competitive field hockey, is only entering its seventh season, after its inception in 2019. With that being said, field hockey is one of the faster growing sports globally, but especially domestically, in Ireland. According to Hockey Ireland, field hockey is “one of the largest team sports in Ireland”, seeing 144,000 participants throughout schools, clubs, provincial, and national initiatives. Ireland’s inclusion in the women’s Pro League marks a historic milestone for the sport in the country, with their promotion in June 2025 making this upcoming tournament the first of its kind to be held on Irish soil.
Though the men’s team has yet to qualify, the Irish women’s team’s season begins at the tournament being hosted at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin, with their first matchup against Belgium at 14:00 GMT on 10 December.
