Pro League Is Back in 26 Days: 144 Matches, a New-Look Field and a Ticket to LA28
The countdown is on. Twenty-six days from now, the FIH Hockey Pro League is back, and this season has a bigger prize than usual hanging over it.
The 2026-27 season starts on 8 December in Cordoba, Argentina, and runs through to 27 June 2027. There are 144 matches across seven host nations, and the winners of the men’s and women’s competitions qualify directly for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Belgium’s men and the Dutch women booked their LA28 spots that way last season. Now everyone else gets their shot.
Cordoba is a fitting place to start. Argentina’s women, the Leonas, are the newly crowned world champions, and the men took World Cup bronze. They open at home against China and Great Britain in the women’s competition, and Great Britain and France in the men’s. The opening stage runs 8 to 13 December, and the Cordoba crowd will be loud.
Two big names are back
India’s women are the story of this season’s field. They won promotion through the Nations Cup, then followed it with their best World Cup finish in more than half a century and Asian Games gold, which already sealed their LA28 qualification. They join the Pro League in February, through stages in Argentina and at home in India, and they’ll be out to prove they belong at this level permanently.
France’s men are back too, also through the Nations Cup, and they start on day one in Cordoba. The French have made a habit of upsetting bigger names at major tournaments over the past decade. The Pro League is their chance to show that’s no fluke.
The European leg follows straight after Cordoba. Valencia hosts Spain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands from 14 to 22 December, and that’s where the season’s first real title race picture should start forming. Four of the strongest squads in world hockey, all in one city, two weeks before Christmas. Hard to ask for more.
The full road map
After the Christmas break, the season picks up again in February with three stages: Argentina from 9 to 14 February, the Gold Coast in Australia from 13 to 21 February, and India from 13 to 28 February. Then the run-in lands in June, with stages in Wavre in Belgium, Berlin and Hamburg in Germany, and Utrecht and Den Bosch in the Netherlands all closing the season between 12 and 27 June.
Every match is streamed live on Watch.Hockey, and the FIH has opened a new dedicated Pro League channel on Instagram for the season.
For our money, the Dutch women and Belgium’s men start as the teams to beat again, but the LA28 ticket changes the maths. A team that peaks in June can steal an Olympic spot from a side that was better across the whole season. That’s what makes this format so watchable. One bad week in the final stage, and a year of work unravels.
And in January, the HIL returns
India’s own franchise league is back too. The Hero Hockey India League’s third season since its return is set for January 2027, with the men’s competition spread across three cities, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Delhi, and the women’s competition in Bhubaneswar. Hockey India opened player registration back in May and set the auction for September. The full fixture list is still to come.
Last season, the Kalinga Lancers won the men’s title and the SG Pipers took the women’s crown. Eight men’s franchises and four women’s franchises played in 2025-26, and the league has grown fast since its comeback. January in India, straight after the Pro League’s December stages, means the world’s best players barely get a breather. For hockey fans, that’s not a problem at all.
