Qualifiers revamp may boost Ireland

Ireland’s quest to feature at major tournaments could be made easier by a new World League which will revamp the qualification process.

The International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) complicated new venture, which began in Prague this week, is divided into four rounds will take place over the next 19 months.

Once the continental championships have been decided, the World League will act as sole qualifier for the World Cup and the Olympics, doing away with the winner-takes-all qualification tournaments where both Ireland’s teams fell at the final hurdle in March.

The first round is originally set for sides ranked 17th in the world and lower, meaning Ireland’s women have received a bye to round two, where sides ranked ninth-16th enter the fray.

Despite rising to 15th in the world in the latest rankings, the men must play round one from September 7-9 in Wrexham. This is due to thecombination of France’s hosting of a round two event and their ranking as 16 at the time the league was conceived. Sixteen sides will contest round three — eight qualifiers plus the sides ranked first to eighth — in two pools of eight, with the top eight going on to contest the fourth and final round in a single pool format.

But it is round three that will be of greatest interest to Ireland, as it doubles as a World Cup qualifier.

While the five continental champions and the hosts will have already secured their World Cup berths, the six highest-placed teams in round three of the World League — who have not already qualified under the criteria above — will join them.

The entire process will begin again in 2014, to begin qualifying sides for the Rio Olympics two years later.

“Never before has an international hockey competition been open to such a wide range of teams and athletes,” said FIH president Leandro Negre.

“Four years from now in Rio, more than 2,000 athletes will have been a part of the qualification process for the next Olympics. It is truly an exciting time for hockey.”

It’s also good news for Ireland, particularly the men, given the gap between the teams ranked fifth-15th isn’t as pronounced as it is in the women’s game. Both Irish sides will feel they have a real chance of making the third round, and the removal of the all-or-nothing qualifiers — which saw Ireland’s men paired with then world number six Korea in the OQT when other events may have provided more accommodating opposition — should suit them. Big challenges lie ahead off the pitch though; adding extra competitive fixtures to the already packed yearly schedule means the Irish Hockey Association and the players themselves will have to secure more funding in an unfavourable climate.