Bangladesh will replace Pakistan in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2026 and open its campaign against defending champions India in Jalandhar on October 27. The six-team tournament will be held across Jalandhar and Mohali in Punjab, with the final scheduled for November 5. India, the reigning Asian Games champions and five-time winners of the competition, will enter the tournament aiming to extend their record and defend their standing as one of Asia’s leading hockey teams.
The league stage will take place at the Olympian Surjit Singh Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar from October 27 to November 2. The tournament will then move to the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali for the knockout matches. The semi-finals are scheduled for November 4, followed by the bronze-medal match and final on November 5. The opening ceremony will be held on October 27, shortly before India face Bangladesh in their first match.
Six teams will compete in the tournament: India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea and China. Each side will play the other five teams once during the single round-robin league phase. The top four teams will advance to the semi-finals, while the remaining teams will miss out on the title contest. October 28, October 31 and November 3 have been designated as rest days in the tournament schedule.
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Following their opening match against Bangladesh, India will take on China on October 29, Japan on October 30, Malaysia on November 1 and South Korea on November 2. All five of India’s league matches are scheduled to begin at 7 pm IST. The fixtures will give the hosts an opportunity to assess their form against a range of Asian opponents before the knockout stage, where the top four teams will compete for a place in the final.
India have won the Asian Champions Trophy in 2011, 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024, sharing the 2018 title with Pakistan. Their latest triumph in 2024 reinforced their record in the competition, and the team will look to maintain that success on home soil. India also enter the tournament as reigning Asian Games gold medallists after defending their title in Japan, according to the tournament announcement.
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey said the announcement of the schedule had added to the excitement surrounding the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Punjab 2026. He welcomed the participating teams to Punjab and expressed hope that spectators would witness high-quality hockey. Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh also said the release of the fixtures marked the beginning of the countdown to the competition. With the schedule confirmed, attention will turn to the teams’ preparations ahead of the October 27 opening day.
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