FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup: A history 

Indoor hockey is a variant of hockey that originated in Germany in the mid 20th century as a way for players of hockey to practise the sport during the months of winter when it was too cold to play hockey outdoors. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) recognised indoor hockey in its constitution in the year 1968 and there have been various FIH Indoor hockey events since 1972. 

The FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup 2003 in Leipzig, Germany was the first world cup event in indoor hockey, for both men’s and women’s competition. The event was watched by a total of 20 million viewers, proving the great popularity of the sport among hockey fans. Since 2003, the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup has been organised every 4 years. 

Germany is the most successful team in the history of the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cups, in both men’s and women’s competition. The German women’s team has won 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal, standing on the podium at every single edition of the Indoor World Cup. The German men’s team has an identical record at the Indoor World Cups, having won the gold medal at the first three editions of the event followed by a bronze in the 2015 edition and a silver in 2018. 

The upcoming FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup South Africa 2023 will be the sixth edition of the event and the first one to be played outside of Europe. The event was originally planned to be held in Liège, Belgium in the year 2022, but had to be postponed in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Pretoria, South Africa appointed as the new hosts.