Following the conclusion of Hockey World League Round 1, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) has released the latest update to the FIH Hero World Rankings.
In the men’s FIH Hero World Rankings, the top twenty positions remain unchanged from the update that followed the conclusion of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, with Australia sitting at the top of the standings ahead of Olympic champions Argentina. However, there have been some significant movements elsewhere thanks to some fine performances at the numerous Hockey World League Round 1 events.
USA, Wales, Austria and Ukraine were all winners of Hockey World League Round 1 events and have found themselves on the move. Victory for the Americans in Salamanca resulted in a two place climb up to 27th, with Wales also moving up two places from 36th to 34th thanks to their excellent competition victory in Glasgow.
Austria and Ukraine, the respective winners of the events in Antalya and Prague, both climbed one place, with Austria up to 21st and Ukraine moving into 26th position.
Chile (winners in Chiclayo) and Ghana (winners in Accra) remained at 25th and 43rd respectively.
There have been some fairly dramatic moves further down the table, with Fiji rocketing up 16 places from 67th to 51st. There were also impressive climbs from Barbados (54th to 48th), Thailand (64th to 58th), Papua New Guinea (71st to 65th) and Kazakhstan (76th to 67th).
Thanks to their participation in the Hockey World League, five teams picked up their first ever ranking points: Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Solomon Islands and Tonga. There are now 89 men’s teams with an official FIH Hero World Ranking, the highest number in the sport’s history.
Like the men’s rankings, the top twenty of the women’s FIH Hero World Rankings also stay as they were in the immediate aftermath of Rio 2016, with the Netherlands remaining in first place just ahead of England, who benefitted from Great Britain’s stunning Olympic gold medal success in Brazil over the summer.
The winning teams of the Hockey World League Round 1 events that have taken place since the last rankings update have all moved up the table, aside from Czech Republic, winners in Prague, who remain in 26th position.
Chiclayo champions Uruguay have moved up one place to 22nd, leapfrogging South American rivals Chile, who finished behind the Uruguayans at the event in Peru.
Douai champions Russia also stepped up one place to 27th, with Accra winners Ghana doing the same to reach 28th position. Mexico and Thailand, the respective winners of the Hockey World League Round 1 competitions in Salamanca and Singapore, enjoyed notable climbs up the table, with Mexico moving three places to 30th and Thailand progressing from 35th to 31st.
As in the men’s rankings, Fiji were the biggest climbers, moving up from 59th to 46th, although they were not the only team to make significant gains. Sri Lanka climbed from 47th to 44th, Paraguay moved from up five places to 49th while Papua New Guinea claimed 56th position, up four places from 60th.
Brunei, Cambodia, Solomon Islands and Tonga all earned their first FIH Hero World Ranking points in Hockey World League Round 1, meaning that, like the men’s rankings table, the women’s chart now contains a record number of ranked nations with 72. The drive to raise the status and popularity of hockey is a central theme of the Hockey Revolution, which aims to reach the ambition for the sport to become a global game that inspires the next generation.
The next update to the FIH Hero World Rankings will be published following the completion of the Hockey World League Round 2 events in 2017. For a complete guide to the FIH Hero World Rankings, click here.
