Muscat, Oman, November 9, 2024: On the occasion of the 49th FIH Statutory Congress taking place in Muscat, Oman, on Saturday, November 9, 2024, Tayyab Ikram was re-elected President of the International Hockey Federation.
Reacting to his re-election, he said: “My heart is full of gratitude for the trust you’ve placed in me. Many of you have told me that a lot has been achieved in the last two years, and that FIH is now much closer to you.
“However, today, I feel that this is my first day. You’ve given me a new start! I will continue this journey. It will be a time of engagement, a time of empowerment. Athletes are, and will remain, my first priority. They need to be at the centre of everything FIH does.”
As an additional sign confirming the steady growth of hockey worldwide, the Congress approved the application of no fewer than six new members, namely Bahrain, Chad, Curacao, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal. This brings the overall number of FIH members to 146.
In his President’s report at the beginning of proceedings, Tayyab Ikram tackled numerous key strategic priorities, such as the FIH empowerment and engagement strategy, athletes’ welfare, hockey development or events. He highlighted specifically some of the major accomplishments of FIH since the last Congress:
Governance: FIH advancing in 5th ASOIF Review
Events: Junior World Cup expanding to 24 teams; Nations Cup and Nations Cup 2 introduced, Hockey5s World Cup with much enhanced accessibility
Engagement: National Associations Summits
Commercial: Partnerships with Hero MotoCorp, Nike and Laureus
Social media performance during the Olympic Games Paris 2024: 31 million video views, 225.000 new followers and 125 million impressions
Sustainability: FIH winning 2024 IOC Climate Action Award
Olympic Solidarity: 60+ projects totaling over USD 2 million
The FIH President also announced the launch of a global mental health project for athletes, as well as the launch of athletes and development portals on FIH.hockey.
(fih.hockey)