The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is pleased to announce the names of six women and 15 men, who make up the candidate list for the inaugural FIH Athletes’ Committee elections, set to take place during this year’s Rabobank Hockey World Cup, 31 May to 15 June, in The Hague, Netherlands. Whilst the FIH Athletes’ Committee already exists, this will be the first time that four of the eight seats will be elected by athletes. Two women and two men will be elected during the Hockey World Cup, while the remaining four seats will be appointed by the FIH Executive Board in March 2015.

The 21 candidates represent all five continents with seven of the 21 being goalkeepers and four current committee members. The most experienced candidate on the list is Pakistan’s Waseem Ahmed, who boasts over 420 caps, while five others have more than 290 caps to their name, showcasing the quality of this year’s candidates. Six of the players on the nomination list are former players, while the remainder are still competing for their country. 

Every National Association had the opportunity to nominate a candidate, resulting in this year’s candidate list being an impressive snapshot of hockey’s reach across the globe from USA to Iran.

“I am really honoured and excited to be a part of the first Athletes’ Committee election process,” said Sanaz Heidari, the first-ever female candidate from Iran. “This is a great opportunity to be an ambassador for Iran and help promote the development of hockey, women and sport. I have been an indoor hockey player for 10 years now and have spent the last three with the national team. To have the chance to be a voice and representative for hockey would be a true privilege.”

The new election process is all part of FIH’s drive to better involve athletes in the growth of hockey. In line with FIH’s vision to entertain and inspire a global movement of hockey fans and players, athletes have been encouraged to increase dialogue on FIH’s digital and social media channels as well as star in in impactful video content online and on TV. 

The four seats elected at the Hockey World Cup will be announced on the 12 June.

Click here to view the Athletes' Commitee webpage.

Female Candidates

Marsha COX, RSA

Rachel DAWSON, USA

Sanaz HEIDARI, IRI

Anne PANTER, ENG

Beth SMITH, NZL

Yimeng ZHANG, CHN

Male Candidates

Waseem AHMED, PAK

Paolo CANE, ITA

Liam de YOUNG, AUS

Niclas FRANZÉN, SWE

Santi FREIXA, ESP

Moritz FURSTE, GER

David HARTE, IRL

David KETTLE, WAL

Henri LHOMME, FRA

Jiwa MOHAN, MAS

Filip NEUSSER, CZE

Xavier RECKINGER, BEL

Scott SANDISON, CAN

Sardar SINGH, IND

Robert van der HORST, NED

About the FIH Athletes’ Committee  

National Associations were given the opportunity to nominate past or present athletes who, if elected, would meet the goals of the committee. The committee is set to represent the views of the athletes within the FIH, protect their interests and uphold their rights and obligations. The group will also serve as a link between the active athletes and the FIH, as well as to help raise awareness and educate athletes on topics of direct concern.

The members of the Athletes’ Committee will serve as a consultative body and will make recommendations to the FIH Executive Board, FIH Committees, Advisory Panels and other bodies. Their roles will also cover seeking and providing feedback to the FIH on behalf of all athletes, whilst developing and promoting resources and initiatives to athletes such as health and welfare, anti-doping, social media, our need to create stars to attract new fans, career preparation and management. The Committee will also play a central role in liaising with the Athletes’ Commission of the IOC and other sporting organisations to enable the sharing of information and research and ultimately developing the game of hockey.

Current members of the Athletes’ Committee who are also on the recently-announced candidate list include Beth Smith (NZL), Henri Lhomme (FRA), Liam de Young (AUS) and Scott Sandison (CAN).