Bhubaneswar Ready for Men's Hockey World Cup, Lets flashback How Soccer stadium hosted 2014 Field Hockey World Cup in Hague

The Kyocera Stadium of soccer club ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands delivered top class Field Hockey as the main stadium for the 2014 Field Hockey World Cup along with nearby, temporary GreenFields Stadium as the second playing location of the tournament. The Rabobank 2014 Field Hockey World Cup was held in The Hague from 31 May through 15 June.

The main field in the Kyocera stadium became heart of the international tournament and accommodated 15,000 Field Hockey fans. The stadium remained two weeks as one of the largest Field Hockey stadiums of the world. The main stadium remains the venue for all matches played by the Dutch national teams as well as for the finals.

The Rabobank 2014 Field Hockey World Cup was the largest top sporting event in the Netherlands of that year, with 24 Field Hockey teams from 15 countries fought it out for the world title with 432 top players representing 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. A total of 76 matches played in the main stadium and the adjacent GreenFields stadium.

During 14 days 24 teams (women and men) from 15 different countries of five continents played their matches, and every day at prime time the Dutch national team played. During the Rabobank Hockey World Cup 76 top-level matches and also off the field plenty of activities were organised.

Like a promo-village called Hockey Park with live music-performances, culinary surprises and a diversity of Side Events completed the party. Important pillars of the tournament includes the link with social and cultural objectives, international transfer of knowledge and the development of hockey as a sport.

The Hockey Park has many facilities and it goes without saying that it has an excellent accessibility by bicycle, car and public transportation. Next to the Kyocera Stadium, that offered seats for 15,000 spectators while the GreenFields Stadium has a capacity of 5,000 seats. Both inside and outside the stadiums there are plenty of catering facilities and various entertainment that made the world cup meomorable.

The tournament was organised by the FIH and the KNHB in collaboration with the City of The Hague, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), ADO Den Haag, partners, sponsors and suppliers of the KNHB. The title sponsor Rabobank plays an important part in this event. This financial service provider has been a loyal partner of the KNHB for more than 15 years. With their support, the hockey federation was able to host the Hockey World Cup in the Netherlands.

Another important collaboration was with the media partners. Together with the NOS, Sanoma and the Infostrada Sports Group a multi-media platform was created, focussing on interaction with hockey fans all over the world. It was estimated that via television and internet over 100 million viewers in 120 countries viewed the event.

An important part of this multi-media platform was the Second Screen, the Hockey Tracker. Through this application it was possible to follow extensive live statistics of the match. Furthermore, it was also possible to review moments of play from different camera angles.
This is unique and especially developed
for the Rabobank Hockey World Cup.

The choice for the Hockey World Cup field was made in consultation with the parties involved, keeping into consideration the different interests. In collaboration with Royal Ten Cate, a partner of the KNHB, research has been done on the artificial turf system that meet everyone’s wishes.

A test-field from GreenFields, a daughter-company of Royal Ten Cate, was installed at H.C. Klein Zwitserland. The construction and the field playability was closely monitored and have resulted in an evaluation by achieving ideal Hockey World Cup field before the game began.

The Municipality of The Hague hosts the Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014. The Hague has an international, political and cultural character and besides being a large hockey-city it was also logistically interesting. In collaboration with the city of The Hague and in honour of the Hockey World Cup also plenty of activities took place in the town itself. Similarly The Hague alderman responsible for sports, was enthusiastic about the Hockey World Cup that took place in The Hague.

Perhaps Bhubaneswar didn’t read the stories of Hague otherwise it won’t have Signage flashing Work In Progress, rather city would have been ready by ahead of six months.