The action-packed Hockey World League is renowned for giving every hockey-playing nation on earth a direct route to qualifying for the biggest international events.
In the first edition of the mammoth two year, four round competition, the chance to compete at the 2014 Rabobank Hockey World Cup in The Hague was on the line, with six men’s and six women’s teams achieving qualification for that event thanks to heroic performances in the HWL. This time around, the League provides a direct qualification route to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Semi-Finals
The Semi-Final phase really is the business end of the Hockey World League, where those coveted places at the Rio 2016 Olympics are on the table and completely up for grabs. The Semi-Finals of both the men’s and women’s competitions consists of two ten team events, with the top three finishers at each event winning a ticket to Rio 2016. The nine men’s and seven women’s qualifiers from Round 2 of the Hockey World League are joined by hockey’s “big beasts”, with the teams ranked from 1-11 at the time of seeking entries all entering the fray. The Semi-Final events are currently underway in Argentina (Men: 3-14 June 2015) and Spain (Women: 10-21 June 2015), with the Belgium playing host to a spectacular joint men’s and women’s event from 20 June to 5 July 2015.
Click here to see more on qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics for the men and women's teams.
Finals
The HWL Finals tournaments are the showpiece events where the tournament trophies are on the line and will mark the end of a journey that began in June 2014. The women’s competition will take place in Argentina while India will play host to the men’s event, with the winning teams being rewarded with a places at the elite FIH Champions Trophy tournaments in 2016. The respective host nations of the HWL Finals will be joined in the eight-team events by the three highest finishers from each of the Hockey World League Semi-Final competitions plus the higher ranked of the fourth place finishers.
Click here to see more on qualification for the HWL Finals for the men and women's teams.
