Dubai, United Arab Emirates, played host to the Hockey Revolution Part 2 Conference and 45th FIH Congress in November. It proved to be a truly memorable event which made a significant impact on the future of the sport.

The theme throughout all events and sessions was 'No Limits' and this was certainly the approach taken in terms of setting out hockey's future over the coming years.

Some key decisions were made, a summary of which you can find below. Click on the title to find out more about each.


New President
India’s Dr Narinder Batra was elected as FIH President at the 45th FIH Congress in Dubai on Saturday 12 November. He was the first Indian to be elected President of an Olympic Sport's international governing body. His four-year term begins immediately, replacing predecessor Leandro Negre from Spain who was awarded the title of President of Honour by the FIH.

New Executive Board
Congress voted five new Ordinary Board Members to the Executive Board, two of them being women. These included Danae Andrada (Uruguay), Hazel Kennedy (Zambia), Tayyab Ikram (Macau), Erik Cornelissen (Netherlands) and Michael Green (Germany). It follows member National Associations’ decision to accept an FIH Executive Board recommendation to change the gender structure of the Board, which sees four men and four women now represented as Ordinary Board Members. Overall, the 15 person Executive Board now features seven women and eight men as FIH continues to ensure women have greater influence in hockey at all levels of the sport.

New Members
Hockey continues to grow with five new National Associations - Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Swaziland, Nicaragua and Colombia - granted full membership by the Congress following substantial development of the sport in those nations in recent years. With an aim of reaching 152 National Associations by 2024, FIH are well on their way to achieving this target, with these nations taking the total membership to 137.

Hockey Champions Trophy 2018
In Dubai, the FIH confirmed that Changzhou, China will host the women’s Hockey Champions Trophy in 2018. The event, scheduled to take place between Saturday 17 November and Sunday 25 November 2018, will be played in the Wujin Hockey Stadium in Changzhou, near Shanghai.

Key Speakers
Throughout Congress delegates were able to hear from some key influencers from the world of sport and business. Whilst a hugely successful Turf and Field Forum and FIH Hockey Academy Management course took place on the Thursday, the Hockey Revolution Part 2 Conference on Friday and Saturday saw a number of key speakers present. Delegates were updated from FIH staff on the progress of the Hockey Revolution, Brand Research Project and new Event Portfolio. Simon Cartwright, Adidas Senior Brand Director, provided a lot of engagement with a session on brands while Jenny Mann from the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Sport Department and Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Gonzalo Peillat from Argentina joined National Associations and others for a hugely entertaining open discussion regarding the development of hockey in their respective areas. IOC President Thomas Bach also sent a video message to the Congress reflecting on the success of the Hockey Revolution so far, whilst Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Executive Director Andrew Ryan updated attendees on governance and the challenges facing sports federations today.

Code of Ethics and Anti-Corruption Regulations
Another important topic discussed in Dubai was governance. Next year, FIH will introduce a new Code of Ethics and updated anti-corruption regulations, both presented to Member organisations. The new Code will be fully in-line with the new IOC Code of Ethics (2015 version) and cover the areas of conflicts of interest; confidentiality; integrity (including bribery, gifts & hospitality; match-related integrity and betting); elections and bidding for events. It also foresees the creation of an FIH Ethics Panel with the members to be selected from a pool of independent experts. All FIH members will be provided with a template integrity code, committing them to read the new Code of Ethics and anti-corruption regulations, give them to all staff and ensure full compliance.

Hockey Revolution Awards
Beneath the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, hockey's stars were recognised as part of the first Hockey Revolution Awards ceremony which took place at the glamorous No Limits Ball at the Armani Hotel on Friday 11 November. 10 awards were presented throughout an evening filled with inspiring stories of success from the hockey world as the sport celebrated recent development and achievements with HRH Princess Haya Bint al Hussein amongst the guests.

The next FIH Congress will take place in New Delhi, India in 2018.