The ground is home to professional football club ADO Den Haag, who finished ninth in the Eredivisie this season, and three of the club's stars - Aaron Meijers, Danny Bakker and Robert Zwinkels - attended a ceremonial handing over of the stadium to Dutch hockey players Rogier Hofman, Wouter Jolie and Klaas Vermeulen.

The athletes swapped shirts and tried each other's sports as part of the symbolic hand over of the 15,000-capacity stadium which was opened in 2007.

The Kyocera will host the majority of the 76 matches in this year's World Cup which runs from May 31 to June 15 and will now be transformed into a hockey venue over the next two weeks, which will include laying down of specially designed turf.

A second, much smaller venue, The GreenFields Stadium, was opened at the end of April and is located next to the Kyocera Stadium.

Hockey World Cup mascots Stockey and Storky joined the Dutch hockey and football stars as they performed the symbolic handing over of the stadium ©AFP/Getty Images



The Hague will be the third city in the Netherlands to host the Hockey World Cup following on from Amstelveen in 1973 and Utrecht in 1998.

This year will also see the second time that both the men's and women's tournaments have been staged together, with the last time being in Utrecht.

Australia are the reigning men's champions after claiming the title in Delhi, India in 2010 and they will be joined by European champions Germany, Pan American champions Argentina, Asian champions South Korea, England, Belgium, New Zealand, Spain, Malaysia and India.

The Dutch women took the World Cup crown four years ago in Rosario, Argentina and will defend their title against European champions Germany, Pan American champions Argentina, Asian champions Japan, Oceania champions Australia, England, South Korea, New Zealand, China, the United States and Belgium.

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