The International Hockey Federation (FIH) launched its first official World Ranking System today.
The ranking system determines the pool composition of major FIH and Continental Federation events and their qualifiers. In future further comparisons of relative strengths of international active countries will be
published at regular intervals, at the end of each set of related events (e.g. Olympic Games; World Cups; Champions Trophies and Challenges; Continental championships).
The methodology for the calculation of world rankings is based upon final rankings of countries’ teams at Olympic Games, FIH world level events, Continental Championships, and all qualifying events for these tournaments.
Separate rankings are made for men and women and the points for Continental
Federation events will be weighted to reflect the varying
standards/participation that currently exist between the five Continental Federations.
The ranking system reflects both current and past performances. However, results from the past will be progressively less weighted year by year (25% discount per year over a 4-year cycle) until they are deleted from the
calculations.
The system ensures that, as far as rankings are concerned, success at a single tournament, even the Olympic Games or World Cup, will not be sufficient to make up for poor form in the preceding 3-4 years, and vice versa. It is intended that the ranking system will truly reflect a team’s
performance over a 4-year cycle.
The top twenty men’s and women’s teams are:
Men Points
1. Germany 1928
2. Netherlands 1805
3. Australia 1800
4. Korea 1448
5. Pakistan 1390
6. India 1224
7. Argentina 1068
8. England 1008
9. Spain 851
10. Malaysia 793
11. New Zealand 690
12. Japan 525
13. South Africa 478
14. Belgium 455
15. Canada 450
16. Egypt 431
17. Poland 413
18. Cuba 375
18. France 375
20. Scotland 300
Women Points
1. Argentina 1854
2. Netherlands 1778
3. Australia 1691
4. China 1635
5. England 1183
6. Korea 1073
7. Spain 1058
8. Germany 1025
9. New Zealand 946
10. United States 738
11. Japan 730
12. South Africa 649
13. India 493
14. Ireland 410
15. Ukraine 405
16. Scotland 400
17. Russia 330
18. Uruguay 304
19. France 293
20. Canada 223
FIH Hon Secretary General, Peter Cohen, commented, ‘The introduction of the FIH World Ranking System is a positive step to contribute to hockey’s profile and a credit to the FIH Events and Competitions Committee. The FIH World Ranking is not as complex as some systems used by other sports, because it was decided, when specifically applied to hockey, the rankings would be more accurate if focussed on performances at major tournaments.
Our sport will undoubtedly benefit from the addition of these statistics, plus the qualification for major tournaments will be more logical, transparent and therefore easier to understand.’
A full explanation of the FIH World Rankings can be found in the Events/Results section on www.FIHockey.org and further discussion of the system will appear in the November issue of World Hockey Online magazine. Go to www.FIHockey.org to subscribe for FREE.
For further information please contact
Steven Morris
Marketing & Communications Manager
Federation Internationale de Hockey
Avenue des Arts 1, bte 5
1210 Bruxelles
Belgique
Tel: +32 2 219 4537
Fax: +32 2 219 2761
Mobile: +32 474 256813
Email: comm@fihockey.org
Hannah Cox
Marketing & Communications Assistant
International Hockey Federation
Avenue des Arts 1, bte 5
1210 Bruxelles
Belgium
Tel:+32 2 2110 365
Fax: +32 2 219 27 61
Email: info@FIHockey.org
Web: www.FIHockey.org