The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the qualification pathway for the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey tournaments, as submitted by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Olympic qualification play-off matches will be replaced by two eight-team tournaments to determine places for the Paris 2024 hockey competition.
The International Olympic Committee approved the qualification pathway on Thursday, with the process rubber stamping France men and women as automatic qualifiers due to having a world ranking of 25 or better. According to the Paris 2024 qualification pathway, hosts France has bagged the direct qualification spots in both men’s and women’s sections as they satisfy the FIH criteria of achieving a ranking of 25 or better in the World Rankings since the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Both the France teams fulfill this criterion — men are ranked 10th and women 25th as per the current rankings. Consequently, the qualification process per gender will be as follows:
- Host Nation: 1 team (on the basis that both teams – Men and Women – have satisfied the FIH criteria of achieving a ranking of 25 or better in the FIH World Rankings since the end of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, which is the case for both French teams)
- Continental Qualifications: 5 teams
The winning team of each of the following continental competitions will qualify:
– African Hockey Road to Paris 2023
– Pan American Games 2023
– Asian Games 2022
– EuroHockey Championship 2023*
– Oceania Cup 2023
- FIH Hockey Olympic Qualification Tournaments: 6 teams
The remaining teams in each gender will make it through FIH Hockey Olympic Qualification Tournaments — two events consisting of eight teams each (16 teams in total), held in early 2024.The number of teams from each Continent participating in these tournaments will be based on Continental quotas, which will be determined according to the FIH World Rankings on January 31, 2023, the release said. The teams filling each quota, and therefore invited to participate, will be based on performance at the Continental Championships. The top 3 teams in each of these tournaments will qualify.
“Should France also win the EuroHockey Championship 2023, the second-placed nation will not subsequently qualify, but the quota place will be allocated to the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualification Tournaments,” the FIH said in a release on Thursday.
FIH CEO Thierry Weil said:
“On behalf of FIH, I’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to the IOC for having approved the qualification pathway that we suggested. This will provide for absolutely thrilling matches all over the world, which is wonderful for athletes and fans alike!”
As has been the case since Beijing 2008, 12 teams per gender will play the Paris 2024 Olympic hockey tournaments, with each squad consisting of 16 athletes.
The Paris 2024’s hockey tournaments will take place between the 27th of July and the 9th of August and will take place at the Yves du Manoir.
