2012–13 Men's FIH Hockey World League

2012–13 Men's
FIH Hockey World League

Tournament details
Teams	54
Venue(s)	15 (in 15 host cities)
Top three teams
Champions	Netherlands (1st title)
Runner-up	New Zealand
Third place	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	121
Goals scored	1067 (8.82 per match)
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The 2012–13 Men's FIH Hockey World League was the inaugural season of the FIH Hockey World League field hockey championship for men. The tournament started in August 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic and finished in January 2014 in New Delhi, India.^[1]

The Semifinals of this competition also served as a qualifier for the 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup as the 6 highest placed teams apart from the host nation and the five continental champions qualified.

The Netherlands won the tournament's Final round for the first time after defeating New Zealand 7–2 in the final match. England won the third place match by defeating Australia 2–1.^[2]

Qualification

Each national association member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) had the opportunity to compete in the tournament, and after seeking entries to participate, 62 teams were announced to compete. However, for different reasons, the final count of participating teams was 54.^[3]

The 8 teams ranked between 1st and 8th in the FIH World Rankings current at early 2011 received an automatic bye to the Semifinals while the 8 teams ranked between 9th and 16th received an automatic bye to Round 2. Those sixteen teams, shown with qualifying rankings, were the following:^[4]

•  Australia (1)
•  Germany (2)
•  Netherlands (3)
•  England (4)
•  Spain (5)
•  South Korea (6)
•  New Zealand (7)
•  Pakistan (8)
•  India (9)
•  Canada (10)
•  Argentina (11)
•  South Africa (12)
•  Belgium (13)
•  China (14)
•  Malaysia (15)
•  Japan (16)

Schedule

Round 1

Dates	Location	Teams	Round 2 Quotas	Round 2 Qualifier(s)
17–19 August 2012	Prague, Czech Republic	Belarus  Czech Republic  Poland  Ukraine	2	Poland  Ukraine
31 August – 2 September 2012	Singapore	Bangladesh  Hong Kong  Singapore  Thailand	1	Bangladesh
7–9 September 2012	Accra, Ghana	Egypt  Ghana  Nigeria	1	Egypt
7–9 September 2012	Cardiff, Wales	Austria  Ireland  Sweden  Wales	2	Ireland  Austria
25–30 September 2012	Lousada, Portugal	Gibraltar  Italy  Morocco  Portugal  Scotland	2	Scotland  Portugal
14–17 November 2012	Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago	Barbados  Chile  Trinidad and Tobago  Venezuela	2	Trinidad and Tobago  Chile
16–18 November 2012	Chula Vista, United States	Guatemala  Mexico  United States	1	United States
27 November – 2 December 2012	Doha, Qatar	Azerbaijan  Oman —^1  Sri Lanka  Turkey	1	Azerbaijan
8–15 December 2012	Suva, Fiji	Fiji  Papua New Guinea  Vanuatu	1	Fiji

^1 – Qatar´s results were officially deleted from the event due to an eligibility problem with some of its players.^[5]

Round 2

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Semifinals Quotas	Semifinals Qualifier(s)
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 1
18–24 February 2013	New Delhi, India	India	China	Bangladesh  Fiji  Ireland  Oman^2	2	India  Ireland
27 February – 5 March 2013	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Brazil	Argentina  South Africa	Chile  Trinidad and Tobago  United States	2	Argentina  South Africa
6–12 May 2013	Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France	France	Belgium  Canada	Poland  Portugal  Scotland	2	Belgium  France^4
27 May – 2 June 2013	Elektrostal, Russia	Russia	Japan	Austria  Czech Republic^3  Egypt  Ukraine	1	Japan

^2 – Azerbaijan withdrew from participating and Oman took their place.

^3 – Malaysia was chosen to host a Semifinal therefore exempt from Round 2, to which were qualified by ranking basis. The Czech Republic took their place.^[6]

^4 – As Malaysia was chosen to host a Semifinal, one less berth was available at that event. France (17th) qualified as the highest-ranked second-placed team between the Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Elektrostal Round 2 events, leaving Russia (20th) unable to qualify.^[7]

Semifinals

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Final Quotas	Final Qualifiers
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 2
13–23 June 2013	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	Australia  New Zealand  Spain	Belgium  France  India  Ireland	4	Belgium  Australia  Netherlands  New Zealand
29 June – 7 July 2013	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	Malaysia	England  Germany  Pakistan  South Korea	Argentina  Japan  South Africa	3	Germany  Argentina  England

Final

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified
		Host	From Semifinals
10–18 January 2014	New Delhi, India	India	Argentina  Australia  Belgium  England  Germany  Netherlands  New Zealand

Final ranking

FIH issued a final ranking to determine the world ranking. The final ranking was as follows:^[8]

1.  Netherlands
2.  New Zealand
3.  England
4.  Australia
5.  Belgium
6.  India
7.  Germany
8.  Argentina
9.  South Korea
10.  Spain
11.  Malaysia
12.  Japan
13.  Pakistan
14.  Ireland
15.  South Africa
16.  France
17.  Russia
18.  Canada
19.  Bangladesh
20.  Chile
21.  Ukraine
22.  Austria
23.  China
24.  Scotland
25.  Egypt
26.  Trinidad and Tobago
27.  Poland
28.  United States
29.  Oman
30.  Czech Republic
31.  Brazil
32.  Fiji
33.  Portugal

References

1. "The Hockey World League 2012". FIH.ch. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
2. "The Netherlands are winners of the Hero Hockey World League Final". FIH. 2014-01-18. Retrieved 2014-02-06.
3. "Line-up for World League Revealed". FIH. 2011-10-23. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
4. "Invitation letters sent for FIH World League". FIH. 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
5. "Welcome to World League Round 2 Azerbaijan". FIH. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2012-12-14.
6. "Hockey World League Semifinals take shape". FIH. 2012-01-30. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
7. "Last two teams known for men's World League Semis". FIH. 2013-06-02. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
8. "FIH Men's World Rankings – 20 January 2014" (PDF). International Hockey Federation. FIH.ch. Retrieved 2014-03-24.