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The 24-member Indian men’s squad for the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024–25 European leg was revealed by Hockey India on Thursday. The matches are set for June 7–22 in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, and Antwerp, Belgium.

Harmanpreet Singh, aoned drag-flicker, will remain the team’s captain, with Hardik Singh, a master of the midfield, taking over as vice captain. India will play two games each against the Netherlands on June 7 and 9 to start their European leg. On June 11 and 12, they will play Argentina twice at the Wagner Stadium in Amstelveen.

Before finishing their campaign against hosts Belgium on June 21 and 22, the squad will next travel to Antwerp to play Australia on June 14 and 15.

Goalkeepers Suraj Karkera and Krishan Bahadur Pathak are part of the team. The team’s defense will be occupied by Sumit, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, captain Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, and Yashdeep Siwach.

The team’s midfield includes Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, the vice captain, young sensation Rajinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, and Shamsher Singh. The team’s attackers will be Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Shilanand Lakra, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, and Sukhjeet Singh.

Earlier this year, India played the home leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 in Bhubaneswar. With five victories in eight games, they earned fifteen points and are now ranked third in the standings. With the league’s top team guaranteed a position in the 2026 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup, India will be looking to boost their performance and earn as many points as possible in the tournament’s last eight games.

“We wanted a bit more experience in the squad this time around and I am really happy with the selection,” said Craig Fulton, the head coach, in reference to the squad’s selection. As we want to push ourselves to the limit and win the Pro League, the squad has been training well. We want to attempt to collect as many points as possible to place ourselves in a strong position for the World Cup, as qualification is at stake.

Fulton went on to say, “We haven’t drawn any games so far in the tournament and I believe we need to turn our losses into draws and then go for a shootout, so if we don’t really get the desired results, we can still get points on the board,” in reference to the Bhubaneswar leg and the future. We have some nice goals to aim to accomplish this time around, like increasing our penalty corner conversion rate.

Team:

Goalies: Suraj Karkera and Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Sumit, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, and Yashdeep Siwach were the defenders.

Midfielders: Shamsher Singh, Hardik Singh (VC), Rajinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Raj Kumar Pal, and Nilakanta Sharma

Shilanand Lakra, Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, and Sukhjeet Singh are the forwards.