2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League

The 2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League was the second season of the men's field hockey national team league series. The tournament started in July 2014 in Sveti Ivan Zelina, Croatia and finished in December 2015 in Raipur, India.^[1][2][3]

2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League

Tournament details
Teams	56
Venue(s)	15 (in 15 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Australia (1st title)
Runner-up	Belgium
Third place	India
Tournament statistics
Matches played	213
Goals scored	1147 (5.38 per match)
← 2012-13 (previous) (next) 2016–17 →

The Semifinals of this competition also served as a qualifier for the 2016 Summer Olympics as the 6 highest placed teams apart from the host nation and the five continental champions qualified.

Australia won the tournament's Final round for the first time after defeating Belgium 2–1 in the final match. India won the third place match by defeating the Netherlands 3–2 on a penalty shootout after a 5–5 draw in regular time.^[4]

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, 56 teams were announced to compete.

The 11 teams ranked between 1st and 11th in the FIH World Rankings current at early 2013 received an automatic bye to the Semifinals while the 8 teams ranked between 12th and 19th received an automatic bye to Round 2. Those nineteen teams, shown with qualifying rankings, were the following:^[5][6]

•  Germany (1)
•  Australia (2)
•  Netherlands (3)
•  Great Britain (4)
•  Pakistan (5)
•  New Zealand (6)
•  Spain (7)
•  South Korea (8)
•  Belgium (9)
•  Argentina (10)
•  India (11)
•  South Africa (12)
•  Malaysia (13)
•  Canada (14)
•  Ireland (15)
•  Japan (16)
•  France (17)
•  China (18)
•  Poland (19)

Schedule

Round 1

Main article: 2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League Round 1

Dates	Location	Teams	Round 2 Quotas	Round 2 Qualifier(s)
1–6 July 2014	Sveti Ivan Zelina, Croatia	Bulgaria  Croatia  Russia   Switzerland  Turkey	2	Russia   Switzerland
2–7 September 2014	Hradec Králové, Czech Republic	Belarus  Czech Republic  Lithuania  Slovakia  Ukraine	3	Belarus  Czech Republic  Ukraine
5–7 September 2014	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangladesh  Hong Kong  Sri Lanka	1	Bangladesh
5–7 September 2014	Muscat, Oman	Azerbaijan  Iran  Oman  Thailand	2	Azerbaijan  Oman
5–7 September 2014	Nairobi, Kenya	Egypt  Ghana  Kenya  Tanzania	1	Egypt
12–14 September 2014	Guadalajara, Mexico	Brazil  Chile  Guatemala  Mexico	2	Chile  Mexico
12–14 September 2014	Lousada, Portugal	Austria  Italy  Portugal	2	Austria  Italy
1–5 October 2014	Kingston, Jamaica	Barbados  Dominican Republic  Jamaica  Trinidad and Tobago	1	Trinidad and Tobago
6–11 December 2014	Suva, Fiji	Fiji  Papua New Guinea  Samoa	0

Round 2

Main article: 2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League Round 2

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Semifinals Quotas	Semifinals Qualifiers
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 1
17–25 January 2015	Singapore	Singapore	Japan  Malaysia  Poland	Bangladesh  Mexico  Oman1  Ukraine1	3	Malaysia  Poland  Japan
28 February – 8 March 2015	San Diego, United States	United States	Canada  Ireland	Austria  Chile  Italy  Russia  Trinidad and Tobago	3	Ireland  Austria  Canada
7–15 March 2015	Cape Town, South Africa	South Africa	China  France	Azerbaijan  Belarus  Czech Republic  Egypt   Switzerland	3	France  China  Egypt

^1 – Fiji and Sri Lanka withdrew from participating and Oman and Ukraine took their place.

Semifinals

Main article: 2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Final Quotas	Final Qualifiers
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 2
3–14 June 2015	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Argentina	Germany  Netherlands  New Zealand  South Korea  Spain	Austria  Canada  Egypt  Japan	4	Germany  Argentina  Netherlands  Canada
20 June–5 July 2015	Antwerp, Belgium	Belgium	Australia  Great Britain  India  Pakistan	China  France  Ireland  Malaysia  Poland	3	Australia  Belgium  Great Britain

Final

Main article: 2014–15 Men's FIH Hockey World League Final

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified
		Host	From Semifinals
28 November–6 December 2015	Raipur, India	India	Argentina  Australia  Belgium  Canada  Germany  Great Britain  Netherlands

Final ranking

FIH issued a final ranking to determine the world ranking. The final ranking was as follows:^[7]

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