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Indoor field hockey is an indoor variant of "traditional" outdoor field hockey. It is not to be confused with other indoor hockey variants such as rink hockey or floorball.

Indoor field hockey stick

Indoor field hockey stick

Indoor hockey field

Indoor field hockey is commonly called indoor hockey in the countries where rink hockey is not played. It is traditionally and mainly played as a pastime by outdoor field hockey players during the off-season, when the outdoor pitches are frozen, or alternatively conditions are too hot for outdoor play. Indoor field hockey is played in regular national and international championships. The first Indoor field hockey cup was organized in 2003. It included countries which do not compete at the highest level of the outdoor game.

Indoor field hockey differs from its outdoor parent in several ways:

• The playing field is smaller than the outdoor pitch. An indoor pitch is 18m to 22m wide by 36m to 44m long, divided by a center line. The shooting circle is a semi-circle measured out 9m from each goal post. Side-board planks mark the sidelines helping to keep the ball in the field. The pitch is made of wood or synthetic gum.
• The goal cages are smaller: 2m high by 3m wide and a minimum of 1m deep.
• A team consists of 6 players on the pitch, 5 field players and 1 goalkeeper, with at most 12 players on a team.
• The game is divided into 2 periods of 20 minutes.
• The players may not hit the ball, but only push it or deflect it, and may not raise the ball except in the shooting circle, with the purpose of scoring a goal.
• The balls and the sticks are similar, but players prefer lighter sticks than for the outdoor game.

The small field and sideboards make indoor field hockey a quick, technical and physical game.

Indoor Hockey developed in Germany during the 1950's, quickly spreading to other European nations. Luckily, Belgium was one of the countries to adopt the field hockey variant, as in 1966 Rene Frank, a native of Belgium, who was later to become President of the FIH, persuaded the German Hockey Associations to give responsibility over the rules of Indoor Hockey to the FIH. This led to the FIH recognising indoor hockey in its constitution in 1968.^[1]

Whereas in many countries field hockey is played all year long, in Germany and Austria the hockey season is divided evenly into a field hockey half in summer and an indoor hockey season in Winter. There has been criticism that this impairs these countries' chances in international field hockey competition, but in the other hand the north European climate favours indoor hockey in Winter, as outdoor pitches may be unplayable due to snow and ice.

In Germany indoor hockey is quite popular with many players, as due to the smaller fields and the use of side-boards the game-play is much faster. It is also both technically and physically very demanding.

The first FIH sanctioned tournament matches of Indoor Hockey were played in 1972.

The first Indoor World Cup was held in Leipzig, Germany in 2003, where the home nation won both men's and women's gold medals. They defended their titles in Vienna, Austria in February 2007. The German men were successful, but the women were beaten in the semi-final by Spain, which team lost the final against the Netherlands.

• The FIH

1. ^ FIH - A History of the Rules of Indoor Hockey