India to face Italy in FIH Women's World Cup Qualifiers Semis

By: WE Staff | Friday, 13 March 2026

• India has already qualified for the World Cup and is now eyeing the Winners' Trophy at the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifiers
• India is set to face Italy in the semifinal on Friday

On Friday, the Indian women will try to make history in winning their first-ever world title at the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup Qualifiers and have already qualified for this tournament.

The team has already qualified for this tournament and is currently preparing for their semifinal game vs. Italy after finishing first in Pool B with 7 points (you can see Scotland also has 7 points but India has a better goal differential). India achieved 2 wins and 1 tie and Italy finished with 4 points (1 win, 1 tie and 1 loss).

The Indian women will have the most confidence going into their semifinal match against Italy due to having played Italy in pool play already this tournament.

The leading scorer for India’s women’s hockey team (and the leading goal scorer at the tournament) going into their game against Italy is Navneet Kaur (forward), with 4 total goals (3 in her last match).

Although there are a considerable number of advantages for both teams on paper and based on current form India's historical performance against Italy goes in its favor as the two teams have played each other seven times since 2012.

According to Sjoerd Marijne (head coach of India), qualifying for the FIH Women’s World Cup 2026 is a great accomplishment. “The players have been exceptional in their play during the entire tournament, so they deserve credit for all the success they had leading up to this point,”

“Every single one of our players has shown great discipline and composure while playing attacking hockey through the pool stage of the tournament. Our primary target is to qualify but also win this tournament. Italy presents us with a very challenging opponent; therefore we will come at them with our complete attention and effort.”

Coach Sjoerd reminded the players of the need to respect their competitors. “Italy is a highly competitive squad; they have previously demonstrated the ability to create difficulties for even the finest teams,” concluded.