How to qualify in Field hockey
How hockey teams qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics
India's men and women have both qualified for Los Angeles 2028. Each team won the hockey gold at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in October 2026, and the Asian Games winner takes Asia's place at the Olympics.
For everyone else the road is still open. Each Olympic tournament has 12 teams, and they get there four ways:
- The host. The United States has a place in each tournament, as long as its team has been ranked 25th or better in the world at some point since Paris 2024.
- The Pro League. The winner of the FIH Pro League in 2025-26 and in 2026-27 each take a place (two in all).
- The continents. The winner of each continent's championship takes a place: the Asian Games for Asia, the Pan American Games for the Americas, the EuroHockey Championship for Europe, the Oceania Cup for Oceania and a qualifying tournament in Africa.
- The qualifiers. Sixteen more teams play two eight-team qualifying tournaments in early 2028. The top two in each go to Los Angeles.
A country can send one team per tournament, and the place belongs to the country, not to particular players. Each team has 16 players.
The world ranking shared the 16 qualifying places between the continents in August 2026. It still matters: it seeds the qualifiers, and a team must be ranked 20th or better to take a place another team turns down.
The places
| Men | Women | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teams through qualification | 11 (176 players) | 11 (176 players) | 22 (352 players) |
| Host country | 1 (16 players) | 1 (16 players) | 2 (32 players) |
| Total | 12 (192 players) | 12 (192 players) | 24 (384 players) |
One team per country in each tournament. Places go to the National Olympic Committee (NOC), which then picks the players. The routes below are listed in the order the FIH applies them, and they are the same for men and women.
1. The host: one team
The United States qualifies in each tournament if its team has been ranked 25th or better in the FIH World Ranking at any point since the end of the Paris 2024 Olympics. The US must confirm it will use the places.
2. The FIH Pro League: two teams
The team that finishes top of Pro League Season 7 (December 2025 to June 2026) takes a place, and so does the team that finishes top of Season 8 (December 2026 to June 2027). If the same team wins both, the second place goes to the Season 8 runner-up.
Belgium's men won Season 7 and have qualified.
3. The continental championships: five teams
The best-placed team at each continental championship that has not already qualified as host or through the Pro League takes a place.
| Continent | Championship | When |
|---|---|---|
| Asia | 20th Asian Games, Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) | 19 September to 4 October 2026 (played) |
| Americas | 20th Pan American Games, Lima (Peru) | 16 July to 1 August 2027 |
| Europe | EuroHockey Championship | 28 July to 8 August 2027 |
| Africa | African Hockey Road to Los Angeles 2028 | Date to be confirmed |
| Oceania | Oceania Cup | Date to be confirmed |
Two special cases:
- If a Pro League qualifier also wins its continental championship, the next team in that championship takes the continental place.
- If the United States wins the Pan American Games, the runner-up does not take the place. It moves to the qualifiers instead (see the fifth place below).
Asia is decided. India won both Asian Games tournaments: the men beat Malaysia 5-1 in the final and the women beat China 1-0. Both teams are through to Los Angeles.
4. The FIH Olympic qualifiers: four teams (or five)
Two qualifying tournaments of eight teams each are held in early 2028. Each is played as two pools of four, then semi-finals and a final, the same format as for Paris 2024. The top two in each tournament qualify.
If the United States wins either the Pro League or the Pan American Games, one place is freed and becomes a fifth qualifying place. It goes to whichever of the two third-placed teams is higher in the world ranking at midnight on the final day of the second tournament to finish.
Who plays in the qualifiers
The 16 places in the qualifiers are shared between continents by the world ranking:
- Count how many teams from each continent are in the top 24 Olympic-eligible teams of the world ranking. Only England counts for Great Britain; if Scotland or Wales are in the top 24, the teams ranked 25th and 26th are used instead.
- Take away one place for each of the eight teams already qualified, from their continent. That leaves 16.
- Each continent fills its places with its highest-finishing teams in its continental championship that have not already qualified.
The FIH published the shares on 1 September 2026, from the ranking of 31 August 2026:
| Continent | Men: in the top 24 | Men: places in the qualifiers | Women: in the top 24 | Women: places in the qualifiers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | 10 | 8 | 11 | 9 |
| Asia | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Americas | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Oceania | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Africa | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
These add up to 17 in each table, not 16, because the second Pro League place is not decided until Season 8 ends. When it is, the winner's continent loses one place in the qualifiers.
For Asia this means the next six men's teams at the Asian Games (Malaysia, Pakistan, Korea, Japan, China and Bangladesh) and the next four women's teams (China, Japan, Korea and Malaysia) have places in the qualifiers.
If a team turns down its invitation, the reserves come from the same continental count, not from the next team of the same continent: the continent of the eligible team ranked 25th on 31 August 2026 supplies the first reserve.
How the qualifiers are drawn
The 16 teams are seeded by the world ranking at midnight on the last day of the last continental championship in 2027 and split by a snake:
| Tournament A | 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 |
|---|---|
| Tournament B | 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15 |
If the two host countries of the qualifiers end up in the same tournament, one is swapped with the team of the equivalent rank in the other.
Places turned down
| Place turned down | Goes to |
|---|---|
| A Pro League place | The next team in Season 8, if it is ranked 20th or better at the end of that season; otherwise the qualifiers |
| A continental place | The next team in that championship not yet qualified, if it is ranked 20th or better at the end of the 2027 continental championships; otherwise the qualifiers |
| A place from the qualifiers, or the host's place | The highest-ranked team in the qualifiers not yet qualified |
Reserves
Each team may also bring three alternate players, who are not part of the 16. To have all three, one of them must be a reserve goalkeeper.
Dates
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 9 December 2025 to 28 June 2026 | Pro League Season 7 |
| 31 August 2026 | World ranking used for the continental shares; published 1 September |
| 19 September to 4 October 2026 | Asian Games (Asia's place) |
| 8 December 2026 to 20 June 2027 | Pro League Season 8 |
| 16 July to 1 August 2027 | Pan American Games |
| 28 July to 8 August 2027 | EuroHockey Championship |
| September 2027 | Teams, dates and venues of the qualifiers confirmed |
| March 2028 (to be confirmed) | Olympic qualifiers |
| April 2028 | NOCs confirm their places |
| 26 June 2028 | Entries deadline for the Games |
| From 12 July 2028 | Hockey at LA28 (the Games run 14 to 30 July) |
Where the document disagrees with itself. The timeline ends Pro League Season 8 on 20 June 2027; the note under the continental shares says 27 June 2027. The timeline also says the FIH tells NOCs of their places in September 2027, while section E says the FIH confirms qualification within 14 days of the last qualifier, which is in 2028. Until the FIH settles them, read the earlier dates as the ones to watch.
Where to follow it
The FIH publishes results and qualified teams on fih.hockey. The world ranking that seeds the qualifiers is explained on the hockey ranking page.