The honour of hosting the opening men’s matches of the inaugural FIH Pro League falls to Spain as the European nation prepares to host first Belgium on 19 January and then Great Britain six days later on the 25 January.
The venue for Spain’s opening two home matches is the friendly and accessible Estadio Betero in Valencia on the east coast of the Mediterranean country. It is a gentle start for the players in terms of weather as Valencia is known for its mild January weather. But while the temperatures might be mild, the temperature of the hockey competition is likely to be sizzling!
In total, Estadio Betero will host five of Spain matches with the other three games – against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina – being played at the iconic Club de Campo in Madrid.
Estadio Betero is fast becoming a well-known facility for top level hockey competition. In 2015 it hosted one of two women’s Hockey World League Semi-Finals – which also served as an Olympic qualifier for Rio 2016; and in 2019 the stadium will play host to one of three women’s Hockey Series Finals. Exposure to the demands and challenges of top level hockey has established the organisers in Valencia as a highly skilled events team.
If the hockey venue in Valencia is the new kid on the block, Club de Campo in the Spanish capital Madrid is long established as a prestigious home to hockey. The sports club was formed in 1929 and has been the base of the Club de Campo hockey club since the 1930s. While the club’s domestic teams, both male and female, enjoy regular success in both the national championships and on the European club scene, it was the successful hosting of the 2006 Women’s World Cup that propelled Club de Campo into the realms of a top ranking hockey venue.
Just how Spain, who are ranked at nine in the FIH hero Hockey World Rankings, will fare in the FIH Pro League will only be revealed over time. The Red Sticks, under the guidance of Frederic Soyez, did not enjoy a happy end to 2018. They arrived at the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar with high hopes of a top eight finish but ended up in 13th position, after losing one match and drawing two in the pool round. But this is a team that can not be underestimated. Soyez himself is a canny and strategic coach and he has a number of players with enough experience to guide the team through the rocky grounds of a brand new competition format.
Players such as Pau Quemada, Miguel Delas, Sergei Enrique and the long-serving goalkeeper Quico Cortes will offer the team guile and stability, while young up and coming stars of the game such as Enrique Gonzalez will grasp the opportunity that the FIH Pro League offers.
The opening match is a baptism of fire. In Belgium they face the newly-crowned World Cup champions and the newly-promoted world number one side in the FIH hero World Rankings. The Red Lions will arrive in Valencia brimming with confidence – will the Red Sticks be able to counter and overcome the threat?
#FIHProLeague
