AHF: FIH June events influence FIH World Rankings status

After an intense month of June for international hockey that included half of the FIH Hockey Pro League season, the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup and the inaugural FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup 2, here’s a snapshot of the current world rankings (outdoor) as we’ve reached the half of the year:

In the women’s world rankings, the final stages of the 2024-25 FIH Hockey Pro League season have not led to any changes for the participating teams.

Netherlands (3682) remain at the top of the rankings, followed by Argentina (3221) and Belgium (3027). Beyond the podium, the next six teams are the remaining teams in the Pro League, namely China (2813), Australia (2724), Germany (2631), Spain (2585), England (2481) and India (2243).

The inaugural FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup 2 however enabled France and Uruguay to benefit the most from their excellent performances. With 1607 points, Champions Les Bleues are now ranked 17th. This is no less than their best-ever position! Runners-up Las Cimarronas have also reached their best ever ranking (22nd) with 1479 points. On the other side, South Africa (1442) and Malaysia (1404), finishing 8th and 7th in the tournament respectively, are enduring their lowest ranking ever.

In the men’s world rankings, the FIH Hockey Pro League matches played in June caused a number of changes in the rankings. On the plus side, Germany (3076) moved up to the second spot and Spain (2883) – who qualified to the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup thanks to their successful Pro League campaign – to the fourth one. On the contrary, England (2874), India (2733) and Ireland (2125) all dropped in the rankings to the 5th, 8th and 11th positions respectively.

Olympic champions and FIH Hockey Pro League winners Netherlands (3382) continue to top the rankings.

Winning the recent FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup in Malaysia, New Zealand is now back in the top 10 (9th with 2172 points). However, South Africa (1948), who were relegated to the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2, lost three places whilst Japan (1782) lost two compared to the March rankings.

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.

Source: FIH.hockey