Birmingham 2022 unveils match schedules for hockey

• Match schedules for women’s and men’s hockey at Birmingham 2022 unveiled
• England’s men’s and women’s teams will both face Ghana in their opening match and have group games against India, Canada and Wales
• Reigning men’s champions, Australia, will face New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Scotland in the group stage
• Reigning women’s champions, New Zealand, face Australia, Kenya, Scotland and South Africa in their group

Following the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) confirmation last week of the teams taking part in the competition, Birmingham 2022 has unveiled the full match schedule for the men’s and women’s tournaments.

Both the women’s and the men’s competitions will begin on Friday 29 July, with the opening session of the women’s tournament featuring reigning champions New Zealand against Kenya and South Africa playing Scotland. Hosts, England, will face Ghana in the first match of the men’s competition with New Zealand facing Scotland in the same session.

There will be a home nations clash on 31 July, when England’s men’s team takes on Wales and both England teams, who each won bronze medals on the Gold Coast in 2018, will be taking on India in the group stages, with the men’s team facing them on 1 August and the England women’s match against India taking place the following day.

The men’s reigning champions, Australia, will take on Scotland in their opening match and will then face New Zealand on 1 August - a repeat of the Gold Coast 2018 men’s hockey final.

The final of the women’s event will be held on Sunday 7 August and will be part of a super Sunday for women’s sport at the Games, with the final of the netball tournament and the final of the first ever Commonwealth Games women’s cricket T20 tournament being held on the same day. 

The men’s final will be played on Monday 8 August, just a few hours before the Closing Ceremony.

There will be 54 hockey matches in total, with 40 group games, six classification matches, four semi-finals, four medal matches and all of these matches will be played at the University of a Birmingham, the official competition venue for hockey at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The 20 hockey teams taking part in the Games will also use the University of Birmingham’s world-class hockey facilities for training until competition gets underway and then the teams will be able to make use of the newly upgraded pitch at Wyndley Leisure Centre in Sutton Coldfield for training.

Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, said: “We are excited to be unveiling the official hockey match schedule today as it brings us another step closer to the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. It’s going to be an exciting tournament with an impressive line-up of teams, featuring all of the medallists from the last edition of the Commonwealth Games.

“Tickets have already been selling well for hockey and now the group matches have been revealed, we expect to see an upsurge in sales to hockey fans who’ve been eagerly waiting the release of this schedule.”

 FIH CEO, Thierry Weil, said: “After the reveal of the participating teams last week, the publication of the match schedule is another really important milestone on the road to the upcoming Commonwealth Games! On behalf of FIH, I encourage all fans to buy tickets early to make sure they will attend the matches from the splendid Birmingham 2022 venue!”

In total there are 28 sessions of hockey and tickets have been selling fast. Sessions for the group stages include two matches and tickets start at just £8 for under 16s and £15 for adults.