Pakistan males’s hockey workforce has accepted an invite to compete within the Professional League 2025–26 season, the Worldwide Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed on Thursday.
The Inexperienced Shirts had been formally invited by the apex physique to take part within the “League of the Greatest” after Hockey New Zealand withdrew from the nine-team event regardless of profitable the FIH Nations Cup earlier this yr in Malaysia.
The PHF was initially given a deadline of August 12 to verify its nationwide males’s workforce’s participation, however the federation sought an extension till August 20 because it was awaiting monetary help from the federal government.
The federation was subsequently issued Rs250m for the occasion on Wednesday, resulting in it confirming its males’s workforce’s participation the subsequent day.
“The Worldwide Hockey Federation (FIH) can affirm that the Pakistan males’s hockey workforce, nicknamed the Inexperienced Shirts, have accepted the invitation to take part within the upcoming 2025-26 season of the FIH Hockey Professional League,” the apex physique stated in a press release.
Pakistan will be part of arch-rivals India, alongside Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, Netherlands, and Spain within the upcoming seventh version of the event, changing Eire, who had been relegated after ending final within the earlier season.
The Inexperienced Shirts’ participation within the event meant that they might additionally sq. off towards conventional rivals India, who narrowly escaped relegation final season as they completed simply above bottom-ranked Eire.
FIH President Tayyab Ikram expressed his delight over Pakistan’s addition to the Professional League, stating it might be a significant enhance for the workforce with a wealthy historical past and would bolster the event’s viewership.
“Nice to see Pakistan again in elite competitors — this can be a actually impactful milestone for world hockey,” Ikram stated in an FIH-released assertion.
“Their return marks not solely the comeback of a workforce with such a wealthy and storied historical past, but additionally an thrilling enhance to the visibility and attain of the FIH Hockey Professional League. I can already anticipate an enhanced visibility of the Professional League with Pakistan’s participation.
“Congratulations to the Pakistan males’s workforce for qualifying by the FIH Hockey Nations Cup and incomes their place within the ‘League of the Greatest’ for the very first time. This achievement is a robust instance of how creating extra alternatives at each stage of our sport fosters progress and supplies a pure pathway to the very high.”
For the unversed, Pakistan had been set to take part within the inaugural version of the FIH Professional League in 2019 however pulled out their first three video games scheduled towards Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, citing ‘inevitable circumstances’, which resulted in them being suspended from the event’s the rest.
