The Walloon Government has approved an additional grant of €600,000 to the Royal Belgian Hockey Association for the 2026 Men's and Women's Hockey World Cups in Wavre, announced Walloon infrastructure minister Adrien Dolimont.
This amount is in addition to the nearly €4 million already provided by the region.
"Belgium has more than 105 hockey clubs, and our men's and women's teams are ranked fourth and second respectively in the world rankings. All the matches in Belgium will take place in the new regional hockey stadium in Wavre, subsidised by Wallonia, which will have a capacity of 10,000 for the event," commented the Minister.
The competition, co-organised with the Netherlands, will bring together eight men's and eight women's teams and will take place over 16 days, including 13 match days. It is estimated that the competition will provide 475 jobs each day, 8,000 people per match day at the Wavre site, 15,600 nights' accommodation for supporters and 10,000 nights' accommodation for teams and staff.
The foundation stone for the stadium was symbolically laid on Wednesday. A relief for the various parties involved in the project, which has suffered a number of setbacks.
Plagued by flooding in 2021, and then by the rising cost of raw materials, work on the future regional hockey stadium is finally set to get underway, with inauguration expected in spring 2025.
