The 2012–13 Men's FIH Hockey World League was the inaugural season of the men's field hockey national team league series. The tournament started in August 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic and finished in January 2014 in New Delhi, India.
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. England won the third place match by defeating Australia 2–1.
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.
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:
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16)
Schedule Round 1
DatesLocationTeamsRound 2QuotasRound 2Qualifier(s)17–19 August 2012Prague, Czech Republic231 August – 2 September 2012Singapore17–9 September 2012Accra, Ghana17–9 September 2012Cardiff, Wales225–30 September 2012Lousada, Portugal214–17 November 2012Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago216–18 November 2012Chula Vista, United States127 November – 2 December 2012Doha, Qatar18–15 December 2012Suva, Fiji1
– Qatar´s results were officially deleted from the event due to an eligibility problem with some of its players.
Round 2
DatesLocationTeams QualifiedSemifinalsQuotasSemifinalsQualifier(s)HostBy RankingFrom Round 118–24 February 2013New Delhi, India227 February – 5 March 2013Rio de Janeiro, Brazil26–12 May 2013Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France227 May – 2 June 2013Elektrostal, Russia1
– Azerbaijan withdrew from participating and Oman took their place. – 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. – 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.
Semifinals
DatesLocationTeams QualifiedFinalQuotasFinalQualifiersHostBy RankingFrom Round 213–23 June 2013Rotterdam, Netherlands429 June – 7 July 2013Johor Bahru, Malaysia3
Final
DatesLocationTeams QualifiedHostFrom Semifinals10–18 January 2014New Delhi, India
Final ranking FIH issued a final ranking to determine the world ranking. The final ranking was as follows:
References