Nickname: The Red Lions

How they qualified: 3rd Place – 2021 Men’s EuroHockey Championship

Notable honours: FIH Hockey World Cup winners (2018), Olympic gold medallists (2021), Olympic silver medallists (2016), Olympic bronze medallists (1920), FIH Hockey Pro League champions (2020-21), FIH Hockey Pro League silver medallists (2019, 2021-22), Hockey World League silver medallists (2015), European champions (2019), European silver medallists (2013, 2017), European bronze medallists (2007, 2021), 5th place - Olympic Games (2012)

Rank in previous WC editions: 1973 – 8th, 1978 – 14th, 1994 – 11th, 2002 – 14th, 2014 – 5th, 2018 – 1st.

Belgium’s rise from European alsorans to the summit of global hockey has been one of the standout stories of the past two decades. In the past five years the Red Lions have won every major title on offer, including the World Cup (2018), Olympic Games (2021), European Championship (2019) and FIH Hockey Pro League (2020-21). It would take a brave person to bet against them successfully defending the world title they so memorably claimed four years ago in Bhubaneswar.

The team coached by Dutchman Michel van den Heuvel contains some of the world’s finest players, proven winners who have claimed the biggest titles on the greatest of stages. In Vincent Vanasch and Loic Van Doren they have two world class goalkeepers, while Arthur Van Doren, Victor Wegnez, Felix Denayer, Florent Van Aubel, John-John Dohmen, Alexander Hendrickx, Arthur de Sloover and Tom Boon – the latter two both shortlisted for the FIH Hockey Stars Player of the Year Award for 2022 – are all extraordinary talents. With strength and depth in every department, you can be sure Belgium will be rightly considered amongst the favourites for the title.

This season, Belgium will take to the field for FIH Hockey Pro League ‘mini-tournaments’ in Buenos Aires (ARG), Antwerp (BEL), Utrecht (NED) and Amsterdam (NED).

One to watch: Arthur Van Doren. A key figure in the Red Lions team that claimed the Olympic, World, European and FIH Hockey Pro League titles in recent years, defender Arthur Van Doren is a two-time winner of the FIH Player of the Year award and, without question, one of the finest players of the modern era.