Euro places to determine World Cup qualification
A NEW qualification process for the next hockey World Cups will have contrasting consequences for Ireland’s women and men, whose task of progressing has been made easier and considerably more difficult, if not impossible, respectively.
For the first time, finishing positions in the various continental championships will be the sole method of determining which nations go through to the finals to be staged in 2022 and 2023.
Previously, there was a protracted process, with both Ireland sides playing upwards of 10 matches over two preliminary tournaments to decide who went through to the 16-team tournaments.
In the past, only the winners of the continental championships and the host nations qualified automatically, but now, in Ireland’s case, the Europeans have taken on added significance as the sole means of advancing.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) have decreed that only the top seven men’s nations will progress and eight in total are involved in the Euros in Amsterdam next June.
Ireland could miss out as they are in the second tier for teams from nine to 16 in the European rankings following their demotion to the second division last year.
Their only hope lies in the fact the seventh placed finisher in the top flight Euros will be relegated to the second division.
So it is possible that some sort of play-off series might be introduced as a fairer means of determining the last available World Cup spot.
Head coach Mark Tumilty is naturally unhappy that the FIH have moved the goalposts by changing the qualification process without consultation or further explanation as to why.
He said: “We need clarity on how the seven positions will be decided, and it is not an ideal situation. But it highlights to me there needs to be consistency in the qualification process as what is currently happening is a shambles.”
The women, who are bidding to reach a second consecutive World Cup for the first time in hockey history, need only a topsix finish at the Euros in Amsterdam next June to secure their objective.
That should be well within their compass and, indeed, if they were to finish second in their group — which also includes the Netherlands, Spain and Scotland — they would not need to resort to the classification games for places five to eight.