Opening Ceremony: Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014

The 16-day Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014, with the slogan “Let’s Celebrate Hockey”, officially kicked off with a grand opening ceremony with much pomp and fanfare at the World Forum Theatre in The Hague.

Sporting hockey jerseys from 24 men’s and women’s teams that are competing in this tournament in The Hague, members of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble (Nederlands Blazers Ensemble) took invited guests on an impressive cultural musical journey of all the 15 countries that are competing in the tournament.

Gracing the event was His Royal Highness King Willem-Alexander, who also took time to have an official photograph taken with the 24 captains of the international hockey teams.

Hockey World Cup is the climax of the international hockey calendar, the culmination of years of intense preparation. Played every four years between Olympic cycles, Australia are the defending men’s champion while Argentina, the women’s.

Hosted in The Hague this year, this is the second time both men’s and women’s tournaments are held at the same time and venue, with a total of 76 matches to be played. The first time was in 1998 in Utrecht, also in the Netherlands.

The 2018 World Cups will be hosted in India, for the men, and England, for the women and both events will feature a new 16-team format, compared to the current 12-team format.

Event: Opening Ceremony: Rabobank Hockey World Cup 2014
Venue: World Forum Theatre, The Hague, Netherlands
Date: 30th May, 2014
Time: 3.30pm

Note: View larger images by clicking on an image once this page has completely loaded. Then navigate by clicking on the right or left side of image.