Recently, the FIH published an article recounting the story of different people traveling to foreign countries to play hockey. How was it like, the benefits, the experience in general. Among the things that stand out were meeting lots of new people, living in a different culture, learning a new language and being exposed to different ways of life.
However, countries like Belgium, in an attempt to rise their hockey professional level, began years ago to capture Argentine players. Especially after the good performance that Argentina had in hockey, both men and women, in the 2016 Olympic Games, many Argentines were called up to the Belgian league.
Thanks to the importance that hockey is being given in Belgium, the Division of Honor has had considerable growth in the last decade, being considered one of the leagues with the greatest competition in Europe with great teams and infrastructure, in addition to important participations in European competitions and achievements obtained by their national teams. This raise is due to the financial help that certain sponsors provide the teams, making possible the hiring of foreign players and infrastructure improvements.
Many of the Argentines who do so is because they receive a good salary and other benefits, and also because of the level of competition there, which allows them to obtain a very important experience and then compete with the national team.
Thanks to all this in recent years, Belgian hockey has been on the rise with a 49% increase in members and participants in the last five years. The popularity of hockey is increasing. In Belgium participation in this sport increased from 20,000 members in 2007 to 35,000 members in 2014.
