Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023: The tie-breaker rules to decide pool rankings | Hockey News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Sixteen top teams will vie for the coveted Men’s Hockey World Cup trophy in Odisha, when the 15th edition of the showpiece event is co-hosted by the cities of Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13 to 29.
It will be the second consecutive time that Odisha will be hosting the Men’s World Cup, which in 2018 was held at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium alone.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallists India will be joined by title holders and reigning Olympic champions Belgium, world No. 1 Australia, along with the Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Argentina, England, Spain, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, France, Japan, Chile and Wales.

The above 16 teams have been divided into four pools.
Pool A: Australia, South Africa, France, Argentina
Pool B: Belgium, Japan, Korea, Germany
Pool C: Netherlands, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand
Pool D: India, Wales, Spain, England
Each team in its respective pool will play the other three once, and the pool-topper will progress to the quarterfinals. The teams ranked second and third in each pool will play the crossover matches that will decide the remaining four quarterfinalists.
In case two teams are tied on several counts to decide their ranking at the end of the pool stage, the International Hockey Federation‘s (FIH) Tournament Rules for the 2023 World Cup state the below methods to break the tie:

According to rule 2.2 in Appendix 2 of the FIH Tournament Regulations for the tournament:
a) If at the end of the pool matches two or more teams have the same number of points for any place in a pool, these teams will be ranked according to their respective number of matches won.
b) If there remains equality among two or more teams, then these teams will be ranked according to their respective goal difference (which means ‘goals for’ minus ‘goals against’). A positive goal difference always takes precedence over a negative one.
c) If there still remains equality among two or more teams, then these teams will be ranked according to their respective number of ‘goals for’.
d) Should there still remain equality among the two teams, then the result of the match played between those teams will determine the ranking of the tied teams.
e) If more than two teams are involved, then a ranking based upon the results of the matches among (only) them shall determine their respective position, based upon the points awarded (three points to winner, one point each in the event of a draw, no points to the loser). If there remains equality, then the teams involved shall be ranked according to points (a), (b), (c), and (d) above.

f) If there still remains equality among two or more teams, then these teams will be ranked according to the number of Field Goals scored in the pool matches.
g) Should there still remain equality among two teams, then the ranking will be determined by a shoot-out competition between those teams.
h) If more than two teams are involved, then each team will play a shoot-out competition against the other teams in the same sequence of play as the order of play in the competition, but with one round of five shoot-outs only to be taken compulsorily by each team.
i) A ranking will then be established based upon the results of the round of the shoot-out competition only, with the award for each play of three points to the team having scored the highest number of goals, one point to each team having scored an equal number of goals and zero points to the team having scored the lowest number of goals.
j) If equality remains, then teams having an equal number of points shall be ranked according to the (a), (b), (c) and (d) points above as applied to goals recorded during the shoot-out competition.
k) If an equal position of three (or more) teams still remains thereafter, then the same procedure shall be repeated until the teams can be ranked. The Technical Delegate shall make a draw to establish each sequence of play if such further rounds of shoot-outs are required.