Asian Champions Trophy 2026 Preview: Reported Six-Team Field, and Pakistan Missing Out

Pakistan could be about to watch Asia’s premier men’s tournament from home. If the reporting out of India is right, that’s exactly what’s coming.

The Asian Champions Trophy runs from 27 October to 5 November in Jalandhar and Mohali, Punjab, and on the reported six-team field, Pakistan aren’t in it. Bangladesh are, in their place.

One thing needs saying clearly before anything else: the AHF still hasn’t published the official draw for this edition. Everything about the field below comes from host-side reporting, and we’ll update this preview the moment the federation confirms the teams, the fixtures and the squads.

What the reports actually say

According to host-side reporting from Indian outlets IANS and Khel Now (8 October), the 2026 tournament will feature a six-team field: hosts India, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Bangladesh.

For anyone new to it: the Asian Champions Trophy is Asia’s premier annual men’s invitational, run by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) and contested by the continent’s highest-ranked sides. It’s the tournament that sets the pecking order in Asian hockey each year.

The headline in that reported line-up is who’s missing. The same reports say Bangladesh have been included in place of Pakistan, which would mean one of Asian hockey’s founding powers, and a regular presence at this tournament, sits this edition out. There’s been no formal AHF announcement confirming the change, and no official explanation published either. So until the federation speaks, the replacement story stays a reported one, not a confirmed one. But it’s been carried consistently by host-side media, and it’s easily the biggest talking point of the tournament before a ball is pushed back.

Who wins it, if that field stands

If the reported field is confirmed, it’s hard to look past India. The hosts are Asia’s top-ranked team, eighth in the FIH world rankings on the 4 October table, and they rarely lose at home in Punjab, where the crowds in Jalandhar and Mohali are among the most passionate in world hockey.

Behind them, it’s a scrap. Malaysia (world No. 14) are the form team on the rise and always dangerous in a short tournament. Japan (No. 16) bring the discipline and pace that’s made them regular knockout-stage visitors in recent years. South Korea (No. 20) are rebuilding but remain one of the continent’s most technically sound sides, while China (No. 21, just outside the world’s top 20 in the October table) have invested heavily in their programme and pushed the bigger sides hard in recent meetings.

Bangladesh, the reported sixth team, sit outside the world top 20. But a place at this table is a landmark for them, and a side with nothing to lose can be awkward opponents in a round-robin format.

Why this one hurts Pakistan

For Pakistan, watching this tournament from the outside would be a bitter pill, and the timing makes it worse. The seniors have just come off a genuine high: bronze at the Asian Games on 3 October, the country’s first Asian Games hockey medal since 2014, earned with a young squad that suggested the rebuild is real.

That’s exactly why missing the Asian Champions Trophy matters. Tournaments like this are where rankings points, match practice against Asia’s best and momentum are built. Pakistan’s men have already been relegated from the FIH Pro League, and their next major senior assignment hasn’t been announced yet. The Nations Cup 2027, their expected route back, has no published dates or hosts. Every missed top-level tournament widens the gap they’re trying to close.

What we still don’t know

Plenty, and we’ll say so plainly:

• The official draw and match-by-match fixtures (only the 27 October – 5 November window is known)
• Formal AHF confirmation of the six teams, including the reported Bangladesh-for-Pakistan change
• The squads for any of the teams
• The split of matches between the Jalandhar and Mohali venues
• Broadcast and streaming details for viewers outside India

We’ll follow the Asian Champions Trophy throughout, reported line-up or not. Asia’s biggest teams playing in Punjab is a story worth covering properly, and this page gets updated as official information is published.