There have been some shifts in the FIH World Rankings following a busy period of hockey action with FIH Hockey Pro League matches in Europe and the Hero Asia Hockey Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The top of the World Rankings however, remains unchanged with Australia men (2842.258) and Netherlands women (3049.495) holding pole position.
Belgium men (2764.735) are hard on the Kookaburra’s heels after wins over Spain and France and Argentina women (2674.837) continue to hold second place behind the Dutch after two drawn matches at the weekend of 28 and 29 May demonstrated how closely matched these two teams are at present.
Netherlands men (2465.707) have regained third spot, as they swap places with India (2366.990). Germany (2308.156) continues to hold fifth place but England’s (2171.354) recent winning performances over France and South Africa means they have moved to sixth, ahead of Argentina (2147.179).
Further down the table, New Zealand (1798.247) are in eighth place, Spain (1779.462) is in ninth, and Malaysia (1704.115) more into the top 10 due to a strong performance at the Hockey Asia Cup. France (1577.458) have slipped from ninth to eleventh, while Canada (1544.819) is in twelfth place. Ireland and South Africa are another pair of teams who have swapped places – Ireland (1429.494) are no in 13th position, with South Africa (1424.748) in 14th.
The other movement in the men’s table reflects the action at the Hero Asia Hockey Cup as Wales men (1365.047) drop to 17th, and Korea (1417.958) move up to 15th, with Japan (1394.667) in 16th position.
There are fewer movements in the Women’s World Rankings. Australia (2440.750), England (2204.590) and Germany (2201.085) remain in third, fourth and fifth place respectively. India (2029.396) have jumped to sixth at the expense of Spain (2016.149) who drop to seventh.
Belgium (1991.089) are in eighth, New Zealand (1914.412) in ninth and the top ten is completed by Japan (1800.350). China’s draw and win against England in the FIH Pro League sees the team move from 14th to 13th, with Canada making the reverse move. Korea and Ireland are 11th and 12th respectively.
To see the complete FIH World Rankings, please click here.
The rankings calculations model that FIH introduced on 1st January 2020 moved away from the previous tournament-based rankings system to a dynamic, match-based method where opposing teams exchange points in official, FIH sanctioned games. The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match. 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.
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