Junior Men’s Hockey WC: Match Against Pakistan Will Be Interesting, Says Coach Sreejesh

India will face archrivals Pakistan, along with Chile and Switzerland, in Pool B of the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025. Head coach PR Sreejesh welcomed the challenge and described the clash with Pakistan as ‘interesting’.

The tournament will take place in Chennai and Madurai from 28 November to 10 December. This will be the 14th edition of the Junior World Cup and the first with an expanded 24-team format.

“Our Pool B presents a good challenge, with Pakistan, Chile, and Switzerland,” said Sreejesh in a Hockey India release. “While I expect the match against Pakistan to be interesting, the real tournament begins in the quarterfinals. We’ll take one game at a time and grab as many points as possible to ensure the best quarterfinal position.”

New format adds excitement and strategy

The FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup 2025 will feature 24 teams for the first time, up from 16 in previous editions. The tournament initially began as a 12-team event and expanded to 16 in 2001.

The new structure will divide the teams into six pools (A to F), each with four teams. Teams will play all others in their pool.

The top two teams from each pool will move to the quarterfinals. Third and fourth-placed teams will play crossover matches to determine rankings.

Knockouts will follow for quarterfinalists, with losing teams entering classification rounds to finalise positions from 5th to 24th.

India had finished fourth in the 2023 edition and missed the podium. They won the Junior World Cup in 2001 and 2016. Sreejesh said the team is preparing specifically for the demands of the new format.

“This is the first time the tournament has expanded to 24 teams, and we’re planning accordingly. Playing in this new format will be exciting,” he added.

Germany remains the most successful team in the tournament’s history, with seven titles. They won the last edition in 2023 and enter as defending champions.

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