Hockey: NZ bid for major tournament

Five countries have submitted bids for one of the World Cups, the others being Australia, India, Malaysia and England. Photo / Christine Cornege

New Zealand's hockey bosses have submitted bids to host a major world event.

Hockey New Zealand have advised the International Hockey Federation they want to host either the 2018 men's or women's World Cup, or the joint Champions event that year.

Five countries have submitted bids for one of the World Cups, the others being Australia, India, Malaysia and England.

The joint Champions event will be the World League Four final for both men and women.

Those finals are being hosted by Rosario (women) New Delhi (men) in December this year and January next year respectively.

"New Zealand has a strong history of hosting some of the world's best sports events," outgoing Hockey New Zealand chief executive Hilary Poole said.

"Attracting an event of this scale to Auckland would be incredible for the profile, development and growth of the sport in both New Zealand and the wider Oceania region."

If the bid is successful, the tournament will be held at North Harbour Stadium, which hosted the 2011 Champions Trophy.

HNZ submitted the bids on August 31. This is the first time the FIH have run a bid allocation process for their major events. The process will ensure that all unallocated events from 2015-2018 will be assigned by the end of this year.