2018–19 Men's Hockey Series
The 2018–19 Men's Hockey Series was the inaugural season of the Hockey Series, a field hockey championship for men's national teams. The tournament started in June 2018 and finished in June 2019.[1]
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 55 (from 5 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 12 (in 12 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada  India  France |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 163 |
| Goals scored | 1130 (6.93 per match) |
Format
The Hockey Series was open to all national teams that were not playing in the Pro League.
The Hockey Series took place in two rounds, the Open and the Finals. The nine highest-ranked teams in the FIH World Rankings (as of 9 June 2017) skipped the Open and advance directly to the Finals. All other national teams played in the Hockey Series Open, which featured eight regional events with up to six teams each. Fifteen teams qualified from the Hockey Series Open to the FIH Series Finals, for a total of 24 teams in the Finals. Those teams played in three events, with eight teams per event (three automatic qualifiers and five that advanced from the Open).[2]
The top two placed teams in each of the Finals events qualified for the 2019 FIH Olympic Qualifiers.[3] In this qualification event, they were joined by the top four placed teams from the Pro League, and the four highest ranked teams not already qualified. The teams will be drawn and play a two-legged tie to determine seven qualified nations for the Olympic Games.
Schedule
Hockey Series Open
| Dates | Location | Teams | Hockey Series Finals quotas |
Hockey Series Finals qualifier(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5–10 June 2018 | Salamanca, Mexico |  Costa Rica Mexico Panama Puerto Rico United States |
2 | United States Mexico |
| 23 June – 1 July 2018 | Singapore |  Chinese Taipei Hong Kong Indonesia Myanmar Singapore Thailand |
1 | Singapore Thailand |
| 25–30 June 2018 | Zagreb, Croatia |  Austria Croatia Slovakia Switzerland.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Wales |
2 | Austria Wales |
| 15–18 August 2018 | Port Vila, Vanuatu |  Fiji Solomon Islands Tonga Vanuatu |
0 | Vanuatu |
| 28 August – 2 September 2018 | Gniezno, Poland |  Cyprus Czech Republic Italy Lithuania Poland Ukraine |
2 | Poland Italy |
| 4–9 September 2018 | Lousada, Portugal |  Belarus Gibraltar Portugal Russia Scotland Turkey |
2 | Russia Scotland |
| 18–23 September 2018 | Santiago, Chile |  Bolivia Brazil Chile Peru Uruguay Venezuela |
2 | Chile Brazil |
 Afghanistan Bangladesh Kazakhstan Oman Qatar Sri Lanka |
0 | Cancelled[4] | ||
| 7–9 December 2018 | Bulawayo, Zimbabwe |  Egypt Namibia Zambia Zimbabwe |
1 | Egypt |
| 17–22 December 2018 | Lahore, Pakistan | Afghanistan Kazakhstan Nepal Uzbekistan |
1 | Uzbekistan |
| 21 January 2019 | Appointed by the FIH | 2 | Ukraine[lower-alpha 1] Belarus[lower-alpha 2] | |
| Total | 15 | |||
FIH Series Finals
The pools and venues were announced on 23 October 2018 with three teams still to qualify.[5] The final pools were confirmed on 21 January 2019.[6]
| Dates | Location | Teams Qualified | Olympic Qualifier Quotas |
Olympic Qualifier Qualifiers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By Ranking | From Hockey Series Open | ||||
| 26 April – 4 May 2019 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | Belarus[lower-alpha 2] Canada China Malaysia |
Austria Brazil Italy Vanuatu Wales[lower-alpha 3] |
2 | Canada Malaysia |
| 6–16 June 2019 | Bhubaneswar, India | India Japan[lower-alpha 4] South Africa |
Mexico Poland Russia United States Uzbekistan |
2 | India South Africa |
| 15–23 June 2019 | Le Touquet, France | France Ireland South Korea Ukraine[lower-alpha 1] |
Chile Singapore Scotland[lower-alpha 3] Egypt |
2 | France Ireland |
| Total | 6 | ||||
Notes
- Ukraine qualified as the highest ranked nation not already qualified via the other two routes
- Belarus replaced Vanuatu
- Scotland and Wales cannot qualify for the Olympic Games Qualifiers because England are the nominated country for Great Britain’s qualification pathway.
- Japan cannot qualify for the Olympic Games Qualifiers because they have already qualified as hosts and winners of the Asian Games.
References
- "Pakistan and Vanuatu to host Hockey Series Open events". FIH.ch. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- Hockey Series Q&A
- Olympic qualification system
- "International hockey teams refuse to play in Pakistan". arysports.tv. 20 September 2018.
- "Pools and venues confirmed for 2019 FIH Series Finals". fih.ch. International Hockey Federation. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
- "FIH Series Finals: all pools and venues confirmed". fih.ch. International Hockey Federation. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.