It is believed that finding a host able to accomodate such a large tournament at relatively short notice persuaded the FIH's ruling Executive Board to take a more cautious approach.

Leandro Negre, the President of the FIH, had announced last week on the eve of the Congress in Kuala Lumpur that "we will double the number of teams because we want to promote hockey throughout the world".

But, in the end, the Executive Board voted that an increase to 16 teams from the current 12 team format would best suit the growth of hockey.

The Board will look into the possibility of increasing the field to 24 teams for each gender for the 2022 edition of the World Cup, they said.

Negre, who yesterday was re-elected for a second four term at the head of the sport, backed the decision. 

FIH President Leandro Negre had hoped to double the size of the 2018 World Cup to 24 but is happy with the decision to increase it to only 16

"The 16 team format is the best decision for the sport," he said.

"We have so many quality teams in the top 20 of our world ranking that it will still be quite competitive to earn a berth to the World Cup even with the expanded field.

"This is a testament to the global development of hockey."

The World Cup, which was first held in 1971 for men and 1974 for women, takes place every four years.

It is due to be held in The Hague in 2014 but no host has been selected for 2018 yet. 

"It was a simple decision from that aspect to increase the field to 16 teams for both genders," said Negre.

"We are fortunate in hockey that we have no gender gap and that our women's field is every bit as competitive as the men's side."

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