AHF: FIH World Rankings: how 2025 shook things up

International hockey in 2025 delivered a relentless calendar of top-flight action — from the FIH Hockey Pro League battles to Nations Cup and Nations Cup 2 drama along with Continental Championships across all continents — sparking notable shifts in the FIH World Rankings. Across both the men’s and women’s game, familiar powers consolidated their positions while emerging teams made meaningful gains.

In the women’s rankings, Netherlands (3809) who started the year in the top spot, maintained their stranglehold throughout the year, with another stellar season where they added more trophies to their cabinet with championship runs at the Pro League and the EuroHockey Championships, while Argentina (3326), Belgium (3109) and China (2977) with great continental championship and Pro League campaigns continue in the second, third and fourth places respectively, where they started the year.

Spain (2777) are amongst the biggest gainers of the year among the top-10 rankings, as they find themselves in the fifth spot, having started the year in eighth! Spain’s climb comes at the expense of Australia (2758), Germany (2734) and England (2510) who have all dropped one place from where they started the year, ending it in sixth, seventh and eighth spots.

New Zealand (2319) who won the Women’s FIH Hockey Nations Cup and the Oceania Cup in 2025 have climbed to ninth place above India (2315), who suffered Pro League relegation in 2025. Japan (2186) and United States (2172) are up two places into eleventh and twelfth at the expense of Ireland (2030) and Chile (1999) who are down to thirteenth and fifteenth, with Scotland (2015) in fourteenth. Korea (1864) remain in sixteenth, followed by France (1742) whose triumph at the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 saw them climb three spots up. Italy (1737), Uruguay (1736) and South Africa (1670) round out the top-20, with Canada (1668) and Malaysia (1667) just outside!

In the men’s rankings, Netherlands (3376) and Belgium (3225) continue to hold the top two spots, but there are plenty of shake-ups below compared to the start of the year! Germany (3116) are up one spot into third following a successful EuroHockey campaign, followed by Argentina (3022) who are up to fourth after starting the year in eighth spot! Australia (3007) and Spain (2995) are up one spot each in fifth and sixth, followed by England (2864) and India (2845) who suffered the biggest drops, having started the year in third and fifth spots respectively.

France (2371) remain in the ninth, while New Zealand (2254) and Ireland (2246) have swapped places with each other since the start of the year. South Africa (2127) and Malaysia (2097) remain steady in twelfth and thirteenth. Following their promotion to the FIH Hockey Pro League, Pakistan (2034) are up one place in fourteenth, followed by Wales (1989) and Korea (1981). Egypt (1956) who had a stellar debut at the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2, are big movers for the year, finding themselves in seventeenth. Japan (1982), Canada (1863) and Scotland (1843) round out the top-20, with Austria (1805), Chile (1727), China (1723), Poland (1694) and United States (1690) occupying the next five spots.

To see the complete FIH World Rankings including Indoor and Junior 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