With the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 less than one month away and following the completion of various international matches and competitions in recent weeks, we can report on some movement in the FIH World Rankings.
A string of victories over New Zealand’s Black Sticks, both in the FIH Hockey Pro League and an FIH sanctioned test series, has seen Australia move to the top of the men’s FIH World Rankings with 2513.67 points.
The Kookaburras have moved ahead of Belgium’s Red Lions (2449.67), who dropped to second position during the EuroHockey Championships in Amstelveen (NED), where they eventually took the bronze medal.
The Netherlands European title victory in Amstelveen has seen them strengthen their hold on third place in the men’s standings, moving onto 2355.13 points.
India remain fourth (2223.45), with fifth placed Germany (2163.57) having closed the gap on the Indians thanks to a fine silver medal winning performance at the Euros.
The top ten is completed by England (6th – 2007.49), Argentina (7th – 1923.42), New Zealand (8th – 1655.99), Spain (9th – 1546.86) and Canada (10th – 1509.19), who all retain their positions from the previous update at the beginning of June.
There is no change at the top of the women’s FIH World Rankings, with the Netherlands extending their lead over second-ranked Argentina to almost 600 points. A successful defence of their European title has moved the Netherlands onto 2805.66 points, with Las Leonas having 2235.59.
Germany’s silver medal at the Euros has seen them climb from fifth to third place with 2183.79 points, with Australia (2130.40) and England (2082.40) in fourth and fifth place respectively.
New Zealand (1903.35) and Spain (1770.90) retain the sixth and seventh positions, while Belgium’s strong performance at the European Championships has seen them climb from 12th to eighth place with 1700.75 points.
The women’s top ten is completed by ninth-placed Ireland (1681.88) and India (1643.00), who are in tenth position.
To see the complete FIH World Rankings, click here.
Tokyo 2020 will be the first Olympic Games to take place since the introduction of the match-based rankings calculated model, which came into play in January 2020. The move away from the previous tournament-based system to one where opposing teams exchange points in official matches means that, for the first time, the results of the fixtures in Tokyo will have a direct, real-time effect on FIH World Ranking positions. More information about the new rankings model can be found below.
How the FIH World Rankings work:
The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match.
FIH World Rankings explained
- Based on the Elo rating system, which is used as the basis of many other sports ranking systems
- When two nations play against each other, a number of ranking points are exchanged between them
- In every match, the number of points gained by one team is exactly matched by the number of points lost by the other
- Teams will win more points for beating teams ranked above them, and therefore teams will lose more points for losing to a team ranked below them
- Teams will win less points for beating teams ranked below them, and therefore teams will lose less points for losing to a team ranked above them
- If a draw occurs, the lower ranked team will gain a small number of points and the higher ranked team will lose the same number of points
- The number of points exchanged is dependent on the result of the match (win, lose, shootout win/loss or draw), the importance of the match (part of a major tournament, or a test series for example), and the relative difference in ranking points between the teams before the match
More details about the formula used in the algorithm, weightings of matches and other factors can be found HERE together with a Frequently Asked Questions document HERE.
