The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced a new annual global home and away league, involving world's leading hockey nations, to be launched in 2019. It will replace Hockey World League Semi-Finals and Finals and the Champions Trophy. FIH said in a statement that the new league was designed to provide a regular calendar of must-see events played in packed stadia across the world throughout the year. FIH also decided that Champions Trophy — held once in two years since 1978 — will be scrapped and the 2018 edition in Amsterdam will be the last tournament.These proposals were approved by the FIH Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this month. The decision was made after more than 18 months of consultation, research and development between a number of stakeholders. It was overseen by a specially formed working group for this project. FIH President Leandro Negre said the changes were made with an aim of making hockey a global game. FIH CEO Kelly Fairweather said moving from a tournament based format to a home and away league will considerably increase the value of hockey.