History
The Fédération Internationale de Hockey sur Gazon (FIHG), which governed men's field hockey, held its first World Cup tournament in 1971. Three years later, the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) began its own World Cup tournament.
The men's event was originally held every two years. Then it skipped a year from 1975 to 1978; since then, it's been held every four years.
The women's tournament was also staged at two-year intervals at first. Women's field hockey was added to the Olympic program in 1980, so the World Cup tournament originally scheduled for that year was postponed to 1981.
The FIHG and IFWHA merged in 1982, forming the Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH) as the sole international governing body for the sport. In 1986, the FIH began conducting the women's World Cup tournament every four years, in non-Olympic even-numbered years, like the men's tournament.
Since 1998, both tournaments have been held in the same host city. Sixteen teams are admitted to each tournament: the host team and defending champions, the champions of five continental tournaments, the top two teams from the Olympic Games that haven't already qualified, and the top seven teams from a World Cup Qualifying Tournaments.