With hockey’s biggest global showpiece now in the background, following Argentina women and Germany men winning the FIH Hockey World Cups 2026, here’s a look at the updated world rankings, accounting for plenty of movement caused by the ups and downs of the World Cup matches..

Women’s Rankings

In the women’s rankings, despite registering their first loss in a World Cup since 2010, Netherlands‘ huge lead coming into the tournament sees them continue to hold on to the top spot with 4083 points.

Argentina’s triumph sees them close the gap on Netherlands’ lead as they further tighten their grip on second place with 3757 points. Belgium continue to hold third place with 3494 points, following their historic return to the World Cup podium after 48 years!

Despite falling short of their medal expectations, China remain the highest ranked team from Asia, coming in fourth with 3182 points. Chasing behind are three traditional European powerhouses, with Spain (3089) in fifth, Germany (3063) in sixth and England (3044) in seventh, with just 45 points separating the sides.

India’s fifth place finish was their best at the World Cup in 52 years, and sees them climb up a spot into eighth place with 2938 points, leapfrogging Australia who find themselves ninth with 2812 points. Rounding out the top-10 are the United States (2612) who finished 10th at the World Cup, which included some impressive performances like holding the eventual champions Argentina to a draw in their opening match.

Japan (2476), New Zealand (2446), Ireland (2426) and Scotland (2415) follow behind placed from eleventh to fourteenth respectively, separated by a total of 61 world ranking points! Chile come in fifteenth with 2104 points, followed by France (2094) and Korea (2066) — two teams that did not qualify for the World Cup. South Africa in eighteenth place, with 2050 points, are the final of the World Cup participants, followed by Italy (1995) and Uruguay (1976) rounding out the top-20.

Men’s Rankings

In the men’s rankings at the top spot following their second successive World Cup triumph are Germany with 3720 points. The Honamas secured the top spot following their victory in the final, having started the match day in second position. Germany’s triumph moved Belgium (3692) down into second place, after their campaign ended in a seventh place finish at the World Cup.

Australia (3583) find themselves in third place, with their victory over England in the 5th place World Cup classification match seeing them climb up three spots, showcasing how competitive the fight for top world rankings remain. Argentina’s (3512) win over Netherlands in the bronze medal match, lifted them to fourth place in the world ranking table, ahead of the Dutch who are now fifth with 3481 points.

Spain, who fell just short of winning their first ever men’s Hockey World Cup title, are in sixth place with 3473 points, followed by England in seventh with 3431 points. From Germany in first to England in seventh, the teams are separated by merely 289 points!

India (3072) remain the highest ranked Asian team in the men’s rankings, and find themselves in eighth place, where they started the competition, and also coincides with their classification at the World Cup. New Zealand, who finished ninth in the World Cup, follow behind India in the world rankings, with 2965 points placing them ninth in the world, and France round out the top-10 with 2841 points.

Ireland stand at the cusp of the top-10, finding themselves in eleventh with 2645 points, with Pakistan (2561) in twelfth. South Africa’s rousing performances at the World Cup sees them continue to remain the highest ranked African side in the world, in thirteenth place with 2531 points.

Scotland (2371) are the highest ranked side in the world to have missed out on the World Cup, ranked fourteenth in the world, followed by Malaysia (2346) and Egypt (2308). Rounding out the top-20 are Japan (2300) in seventeenth, Wales (2299) in eighteenth, Canada (2200) in nineteenth and China (2131) in twentieth.

To see the complete FIH World Rankings including Indoor, Hockey5s and Junior World Rankings, please click here.

The rankings calculations model that FIH introduced on 1st January 2020 moved away from the previous tournament-based rankings system to a dynamic, match-based method where opposing teams exchange points in official, FIH sanctioned games. The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match. More information about the new rankings model can be found below.

How the FIH World Rankings work:

The number of points exchanged depends on the result of the match, the relative ranking of the teams and the importance of the match.

FIH World Rankings explained:

• Based on the Elo rating system, which is used as the basis of many other sports ranking systems
• When two nations play against each other, a number of ranking points are exchanged between them
• In every match, the number of points gained by one team is exactly matched by the number of points lost by the other
• Teams will win more points for beating teams ranked above them, and therefore teams will lose more points for losing to a team ranked below them
• Teams will win less points for beating teams ranked below them, and therefore teams will lose less points for losing to a team ranked above them
• If a draw occurs, the lower ranked team will gain a small number of points and the higher ranked team will lose the same number of points
• The number of points exchanged is dependent on the result of the match (win, lose, shootout win/loss or draw), the importance of the match (part of a major tournament, or a test series for example), and the relative difference in ranking points between the teams before the match.

More details about the formula used in the algorithm, weightings of matches and other factors can be found HERE together with a Frequently Asked Questions document HERE.