Hockey · Fri 30 Oct 2026
The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2026: Ipoh's hockey institution, 20 to 28 November
The 32nd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup runs at the Azlan Shah Stadium in Ipoh from Friday 20 to Saturday 28 November 2026: six invited teams, a single round robin, and a finals day on the last Saturday. Here is how the week works, and how to fold it into a slow Ipoh weekend.
Some tournaments travel. This one stays home. The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup has been played in Ipoh since 1983, named for Sultan Azlan Shah, the ninth Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the man Malaysian hockey calls its father. It began as a biennial contest and became an annual event in 1998 as its popularity grew, a history USA Field Hockey, one of this year's participating federations, sets out on its event page. The 2026 edition is the 32nd, at the Azlan Shah Stadium from Friday 20 to Saturday 28 November, and the listing, with its official source, is the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2026 event page.
The format: six teams, one table, one final
Six teams were invited by the Malaysian Hockey Confederation: hosts Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, South Korea and the United States. The United States play the tournament for the first time. It is a single round robin, so everyone plays everyone: three matches a day on Friday 20, Saturday 21, Monday 23, Tuesday 24 and Thursday 26 November, starting at 3pm, 5:15pm and 7:30pm, with Malaysia in the late game on each of their five match days. Finals day is Saturday 28 November: the fifth place match at 3pm, the third place match at 5:30pm, and the final between the top two in the table at 8pm. Two absences shape the week: Belgium, the defending champions, do not return, and neither do India, the 2025 runners-up, so the cup changes hands. Australia, ten-time winners and the most successful side in the tournament's history, start as the team to beat. There is no 2027 edition: after this year the tournament's next edition is 2028, which makes this November the one to catch.
A slow weekend in Ipoh around the hockey
Ipoh rewards anyone who does not rush it. The old town is small and walkable, built on tin money and still organised around breakfast: white coffee, kaya toast and noodle stalls that fill from early morning. Concubine Lane and the heritage streets sit a short walk from the railway station, the limestone hills around the city hold the cave temples, and the stadium is a short drive east of the old town, so a match day splits cleanly into an old town morning and a hockey evening. The ETS train from KL Sentral takes about two and a half hours, which makes the finals weekend an easy overnight trip: arrive on Friday 27 November, take the old town slowly on Saturday morning, and be at the stadium for the three classification matches from 3pm. Stay in the old town itself for the food and the lanes.
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The full stay bases, Ipoh included, are on the hotels page, and the Ipoh area guide covers what else is on in the city that week.
More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.