Defending champions the Netherlands won the tournament for an eighth time after defeating Ireland 6–0 in the final, who claimed their first World Cup medal.[2][3]Spain won the third place match by defeating Australia 3–1 to claim their first World Cup medal as well.[4]
In March 2013, one month after the FIH published the Event Assignment Process Document for the 2014–2018 cycle, Australia, Belgium, England and New Zealand were shortlisted as candidates for hosting the event and were demanded to submit bidding documentation,[5][6] requirement that eventually Belgium did not meet.[7] In addition one month before the host election, Australia withdrew their application due to technical and financial reasons.[8] England was announced as host on 7 November 2013 during a special ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland.
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. In addition, the 10/11 highest placed teams at the Semifinals of the 2016–17 FIH Hockey World League not already qualified entered the tournament. The following sixteen teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, competed in this tournament.[10]
The 16 teams were drawn into four groups, each containing four teams. Each team played each other team in its group once. The first-placed team in each group advanced to the quarterfinals, while the second- and third-placed teams in each group go into the crossover matches. From there on a single-elimination tournament was played.