The FIH World Ranking is a ranking system for men's and women's national teams in field hockey. The teams of the member nations of International Hockey Federation (FIH), field hockey's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results. The rankings were introduced in October 2003.[3]
Uses of the rankings
The rankings were introduced to overcome the criticism of fixing when drawing the pools for each tournament. It also determines the quotas for tournaments such as the Olympic Games and the World Cup.[4]
Calculation method
Overview
All of the FIH-recognised, including qualifying and continental tournaments for last four years are included in ranking points calculation. However, the past results will be deducted by the percentage set by the FIH as shown by the tabulated below.
Year
Points percentage included
Year 4
100%
Year 3
75%
Year 2
50%
Year 1
25%
Total points
Continental championships
FIH had set the total allocated points for the continental tournaments. However, a different percentage was set to differ the standard of regional field hockey. Currently, only Europe had full 100% points allocation for all classification while the others had only several finishers with full points allocation. Africa is the sole continent with neither men's or women's tournament had full points allocation.
New calculation method
From 2020 onwards the FIH will use a match-based world rankings system similar to the ones being used in rugby union and association football.[5]
