© BELGIUM
After successful Olympic qualifying tournaments, the national hockey men and women are picking up where they left off in the Pro League. The Red Lions and Red Panthers start the competition without many regulars, giving the usual bench sitters and youngsters the opportunity to play hockey in Argentina from Wednesday.
The national coaches of both teams previously announced that most of the players who participated in the Olympic qualifying tournaments last January will be rested. This means that there will be opportunities for promises and other players to convince the T1s of their capabilities towards Paris 2024.
The Belgian hockey men (FIH 2) kick off their campaign with a match against Argentina (FIH 7) on Wednesday at 11 pm (Belgian time). The next day they face Germany at the same time (FIH 4). The second part of the Argentine program starts on February 17, with another match against Argentina and against Germany on February 18 (each time at 11 p.m.). The Belgian hockey women (FIH 4) are presented with an identical program and always play immediately after the men’s match (2.5 hours later).
The standings for both men and women are currently completely unreadable in the Pro League. This is because Belgium and Germany, for example, do not yet count matches and all other countries do. The Netherlands is at the top of both rankings, but has already played eight matches for women and six for men.
Last year the Red Lions finished third with 30 points, behind the Netherlands (35) and Great Britain (32). The Red Panthers had to settle for fourth place and 30 points. The Netherlands (46), Argentina (32) and Australia (30) made up the top three in that order.