Hockey is India's official national sport. It is the world's second-largest team sport, behind soccer. The game's origins may be traced back to the world's ancient civilisations, but field hockey as we know it today was invented in the British Isles. Several rules and ideas evolved during the early years of the game's growth across the British Empire. Our team of specialists will give you a complete analysis of the most recent modification to this game in this post. It has to do with the way through which teams all around the world are rated. But, before we get into the specifics of this Hockey ranking system, let us first learn a little about this fascinating sport.

Introduction

Field hockey is a popular sport all around the world. Many schools also play the game, which provides players, umpires, and administrators with a lifetime of sports and social possibilities.


Field hockey is an eleven-a-side sport played on a 100-yard-by-60-yard pitch with a 23-centimetre circumference ball. Each player is given a rounded head stick with which to play the ball, and the purpose is to score goals by placing the ball into the other team's goal. Sticks range in length from 28 to 39 inches and weigh between 340 and 790 grams. Goalkeepers are protected with full-body armour, pads, gloves, kickers, and a helmet, while shin guards and mouth guards protect outfield players.


Field hockey rankings and regulations are incredibly similar to soccer rules, except that players must play the ball with their sticks rather than their feet. A team of eleven players consists of a goalie, defenders, midfielders, and strikers. The goalie is the only player on the pitch who can utilise both his feet and hands in addition to his stick. The primary rule difference between field hockey and soccer is that field hockey does not have an offside rule, allowing for a fast-paced, potentially high-scoring, and thrilling game.


Now that we have a better understanding of the game, we can go on to the primary topic of this essay, which is the latest alteration in the Hockey ranking system. We will be covering different aspects in this article like India hockey ranking, field hockey rankings, world hockey rankings 2020, women hockey ranking, FIH hockey rankings, Pakistan hockey ranking, and much more.


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Reasons Behind Changing The Hockey Ranking System

Pros of the old system 
  • The current method has been in use since 2003 and was designed to place teams into pools during competitions.
  • The former approach had a high level of accuracy in ranking elite teams from various continents.
  • This method worked successfully for the top 20 nations, who earned ranking points by competing in all FIH and Continental level competitions 2-3 times each year.
  • Points were earned throughout a four-year period, resulting in positive ranking scoring for several years.

Cons of the old system 
  • Each year, there are a limited number of possibilities to earn points (1 or less for lower-ranked nations).
  • To compute continental ranking points, a degree of subjectivity was required to establish the relative strengths of the five continents.
  • Over a four-year period, ranking points gradually worsened, and points were only obtained a few times per year, resulting in a sluggish ranking system to alter or reflect current performance levels.
  • Because nations who played international hockey but did not compete in FIH events did not receive a rating, the World Ranking table did not accurately reflect all nations that play international hockey.
  • There were no ranking points on 60 per cent or more of international matches.
  • The system was difficult to grasp.

Principles Of The New Hockey Ranking System

  • Increase the number of ranking points available to all National Associations.
  • A ranking system that is dynamic and more accurately represents current performance.
  • Wherever feasible, eliminate subjectivity and build a method that is fair to everybody without Continental weighting.
  • Playing international matches is encouraged.
  • Encourages participants to focus on the most high-profile events in order to get the most remarkable results.
  • Do not be swayed by the National Association's wealth or its proximity to other countries.
  • Every official international match result from the end of the Rio Olympic Games is used to create the model.
  • The system was in operation in the background for the entire year of 2019, using all official international match results from 2019.
  • The methodology has been fine-tuned since 2019, and the federation is sure that it is a fair mechanism that accurately represents current performance. So, on January 1, 2020, the hockey ranking system will be reset and rolled out.

The New Hockey Ranking System 

The Elo rating system, which is used as the foundation for many other sports ranking systems, is utilized to create this new way of ranking hockey teams. When two countries compete against each other, a number of ranking points are exchanged. Every match has an identical match between the number of points earned by one team and the number of points lost by the other.

Teams will earn more points if they defeat teams rated higher than them and will lose more points if they lose to a team ranked below. Teams will earn fewer points if they beat teams ranked lower than them and will lose fewer points if they lose to a team rated higher. If the game ends in a tie, the lower-ranked team gains a few points while the higher-ranked club loses the same amount of points. The amount of points exchanged is determined by the match's outcome (win, lose, shootout victory/loss, or tie), the match's significance (part of a major tournament, for example, or a test series), and the relative difference in ranking points between the sides prior to the event.


New World Hockey Ranking System - a match based algorithm 

P(after) = P(before) + R*W*I 

  • P(after) = After the match, the number of World Ranking points
  • P(before) = Prior to the match, the number of World Ranking points
  • R = result (10 for a win, 5 for a shootout win, 1 for a draw)
  • W = Weighting (1 divided by 1000) (1 minus the difference in ranking points [winner – loser] or in the case of a tie [lower ranked – higher ranked] of the two teams
  • I = Importance (Each type of tournament and match is assigned a weighting based on the match's importance. Between continents, there is no difference in importance.)

Example of this calculation - 

  • Team A has 500 pts pre-match 
  • Team B has 1000 pts pre-match 

If Team A win: Weighting = 1 - ((500-1000)/1000) = 1.5 

If Team B win: Weighting = 1 - ((1000-500)/1000) = 0.5 

In the case of a draw: Weighting = 1 - ((500-1000)/1000) = 1.5



Frequently Asked Questions

1. As per the new ranking system that has been adopted, what is the world hockey ranking 2020 in the men’s category?


  1. Australia            2350
  2. Belgium             2348
  3. Netherlands      2155
  4. Argentina           1988
  5. India                   1823
  6. Germany            1770
  7. England             1679
  8. Spain                 1510
  9. New Zealand    1459
  10. Canada             1325
  11. Malaysia           1218
  12. France              1118
  13. Ireland              1093
  14. South Africa    1043
  15. Japan                905
  16. Korea                865
  17. Pakistan           810
  18. Wales               755
  19. Scotland          705
  20. Austria             703
  21. Egypt               698
  22. Russia              598
  23. Austria             703
  24. Italy                  578
  25. United States  559
  26. China               529
  27. Poland             506
  28. Oman              495
  29. Chile                418
  30. Ukraine           410
  31. Brazil               293
  32. Mexico             283
  33. Czech Republic 270
  34. Belarus              270
  35. Switzerland      239
  36. Ghana               228

2. As per the new ranking system that has been adopted, what does the overall women’s hockey ranking look like?


  1. Netherlands      2578
  2. Australia            2020
  3. Argentina          1938
  4. Germany           1893
  5. England             1761
  6. New Zealand    1733
  7. Spain                 1713
  8. Ireland               1480
  9. India                  1443
  10. China                 1421
  11. Korea                 1380
  12. Belgium             1345
  13. USA                   1190
  14. Japan                1185
  15. Canada             1163
  16. South Africa       983
  17. Italy                     904
  18. Chile                    775
  19. Russia                 746
  20. Malaysia             708
  21. Belarus               675
  22. Scotland             638
  23. Czech Republic  628
  24. Poland                555
  25. Uruguay             483
  26. Wales                 475
  27. Ukraine              393
  28. France               345
  29. Thailand            335
  30. Mexico              324
  31. Austria              283
  32. Turkey              250
  33. Ghana              246
  34. Lithuania          209
  35. Peru                 197

The Bottom Line

Each Nation's starting point for the new ranking system on January 1, 2020, is the number of points they had in the old system on that day. From January 1, 2020, ranking points will be traded for every sanctioned international match that appears on the FIH Hockey Ranking and for which international caps are given. Non-ranked training matches can still be performed between nations, but they will not appear on TMS, will not be given caps, and will not result in the exchange of ranking points. This new approach has been tested in the background throughout 2019 and has shown to be far more dynamic and quickly representative of the current form than the current World Ranking system.


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