[2][3] Belgium won the tournament for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 3–2 in the final on a penalty shoot-out after a 0–0 draw.

[4] In March 2013, one month after the FIH published the event assignment process document for the 2014–2018 cycle, Australia, Belgium, India, Malaysia and New Zealand were shortlisted as candidates for hosting the event and were asked to submit bidding documentation,[5][6] a requirement that Belgium did not meet.

[7] In addition, one month before the host election, Australia withdrew their application due to technical and financial reasons.

[citation needed] Due to the increase to 16 participating teams, the new qualification process was announced in July 2015 by the International Hockey Federation.

Each of the continental champions from five confederations and the host nation received an automatic berth, and the 10/11 highest placed teams at the Semifinals of the 2016–17 FIH Hockey World League not already qualified would enter the tournament.