Match schedule for women's BDO Hockey Junior World Cup

The match schedule for the women's BDO Hockey Junior World Cup has been released, with 62 matches to be played over nine competition days before the world champion is crowned in Santiago, Chile, on 24 September.

The tournament starts at 10am on Wednesday, 14 September, with a Pool A clash between USA and England. All 16 teams will compete on the first six competition days, guaranteeing almost 12 hours of continuous world-class hockey daily during the first week of the tournament.

The third day's play, Saturday, 17 September, shapes as an important day for the make-up of the Pools, with the clashes between Argentina and Korea, and China and Spain, among others, likely to influence the composition of the Pools heading into the Medal Rounds.

With uncertainty over the participants in the Medal Rounds, the draw for the matches on Sunday, 18 September, Tuesday, 20 September, and Wednesday, 21 September, will be conducted at the completion of the Pool phase.

Favourites for the event are top seeds Netherlands and Germany, along with Argentina and Australia. Of these nations, Australia is the only one not to have enjoyed the ultimate success. Their best finish has been a pair of silver medals in 1993 and 1997.

Argentina meanwhile will be hoping to emulate the performance of their men's team who swept all before them in an undefeated run to the Junior World Cup crown in Rotterdam in early July.

Competition Format
Each team will play every other team in its Pool once (three matches), before the top three progress to the next phase. The fourth-placed teams in each Pool will play off for 13th-16th position.

At this stage, the four Pools will combine to form two Groups of six. Teams will take forward the points earned against the other qualified teams from their Pool and then play the remaining teams not from their original Pool to complete six preliminary round matches.

The top two teams in each six-team Group at the end of this phase of the competition will progress to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi finals will contest the final.

The women's BDO Hockey Junior World Cup will be the fifth staging of the event, with no team so far able to claim the title more than once. Germany, Argentina, Netherlands and Korea have all won the Junior World Cup are again among the favourites for Santiago.

Europe has six participants, while Pan America has four representatives (including host Chile) and Asia three. Africa will be represented by South Africa and Zimbabwe, with Oceania champion Australia completing the 16-team field. Of these teams, only Belarus has not competed at a women's Junior World Cup.

The last edition in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2001 was won by Korea after they defeat the home team in the final.