Hockey: NZ's hand up for world events

Hockey New Zealand has made bids for three events in 2018. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand are in the market to host world hockey tournaments.

Hockey New Zealand has made bids for three events in 2018, the men's and women's World Cups and the joint world League Four finals.

Four other countries have also placed bids with the International Hockey Federation - England, Malaysia, Australia and India.

However HNZ is no stranger to running top flight international tournaments. In 2004, it hosted a women's Olympic qualifying tournament; four years later the men's qualifying equivalent was in New Zealand. In 2009, there was the men's World Cup qualifying tournament - which New Zealand won - and two years ago, the men's Champions Trophy event at North Harbour.

That's the proposed venue for 2018 too.

New Zealand is a prominent player on the world stage. The women, having just missed a bronze medal at last year's Olympics, are ranked third, behind the Netherlands and Argentina; the men have just risen a spot to No5.

"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."

Pledged support has already come from local and central Government.

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 quadrennial World Cup is up with the Olympics at the pinnacle of the sport. The World League finals, used to find qualifiers for the World Cup, are split between Rosario for the women in December, and New Delhi for the men in January.