London, England: The schedule for the men’s and women’s London 2012 Olympic hockey events has been confirmed, revealing when the teams will play each other in the preliminary rounds of the tournaments. The first match will see Australia’s women take on New Zealand in Pool B, while Great Britain’s women will begin their campaign against Japan in Pool A. Current women’s Olympic champions the Netherlands will open the defence of their title in Pool A against Belgium, who are making their first appearance at an Olympic Games.

Women’s Pool A: China, Korea, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium. Pool B: Argentina, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, USA, South Africa. In the men’s competition, current Olympic champions Germany start their tournament with a match against Belgium in Pool B, while Great Britain’s first match will be against Argentina in Pool A.

Men’s Pool A: Great Britain, Argentina, Australia, Spain, Pakistan, South Africa. Pool B: Netherlands, Korea, New Zealand, India, Germany, Belgium. All the teams in each pool will face each other, with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for the semi-finals.

The hockey matches will take place at the Riverbank Arena within the Olympic Park. After the Games, the temporary arena will be dismantled and elements will be moved to Eton Manor in the north of the Olympic Park, which will offer multi-purpose sport and leisure facilities including two FIH global standard hockey pitches.