The EuroHockey Nations Championship is an international men's

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

competition organised by the

European Hockey Federation The European Hockey Federation is a European sports federation for field hockey, based in Brussels. It is the umbrella organisation for all European national federations, and organises the Euro Hockey League. Marijke Fleuren was elected preside ...

(EHF) for the top eight

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an national teams. It is the top division of the EuroHockey Nations Championships. The tournament started in 1970. When the tournament is held close to the

Summer Olympic games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

or the

Hockey World Cup The Men's FIH Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournament was started in 1971. It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer O ...

, the winner of the tournament is awarded a place in those competitions.

Format

Since 2005 the tournament is played in Divisions, normally consisting of 8 teams. The top division, containing the eight best national teams, is called the EuroHockey Championship, below which there is the

EuroHockey Championship II The Men's EuroHockey Championship II, formerly known as the Men's EuroHockey Nations Trophy, is a competition for European national field hockey teams. It is the second level of European field hockey Championships for national teams. Underneath t ...

, then the

EuroHockey Championship III The Men's EuroHockey Championship III, formerly known as the Men's EuroHockey Nations Challenge I, is a competition for European national field hockey teams. It is the third level of European field hockey Championships for national teams. Underne ...

, then the EuroHockey Championship IV, and so on.

Qualification

National teams qualify for a division based on their performance in the previous competition. Each time the competition is held, it is with each division's previous top two teams promoted (assuming there is a higher division), and its previous bottom two teams demoted (assuming there is a lower division).

Summary

Assuming divisions consisting of the standard 8 teams, the teams are separated into two pools of four teams. In each pool (pool A and B) the teams play one match against each of the other teams in their pool (three in total). The teams then go on to play classification matches based on their relative ranking from these pool matches to determine their final tournament position.

Details

In each pool, A, and B, all the teams play each other once, with points awarded as follows: *3 points for a win *1 point for a draw *0 points for a loss Upon completion of these matches, each team in the pool is ranked according to the number of points each has accumulated. If any teams in the pool have the same rank, then these teams are ranked: *According to the number of matches they won, or else, if equal *According to respective goal difference ('goals for' less 'goals against'), or else *According to 'goals for', or else *If only two teams are involved, according to the result of the match played between those teams, or else *According to the results of a penalty stroke competition between those teams, or else *This procedure is repeated using the penalty stroke result until the teams can be ranked Once the relative ranking of the teams in pools A and B is settled, the semi-finals proceed with two games as follows: *Second Pool A v first Pool B *First Pool A v Second Pool B The winners of these matches then play a match against each other for 1st and 2nd places (the final) and the losing teams play a match against each other for 3rd and 4th places (Bronze medal match). The third and fourth placed teams in each pool are placed in Pool C (the Relegation Pool) in order to determine fifth to eighth places. Each team plays one match against the two teams that they did not previously play. The results from those games and from the game that was previously played against the other team in their original pool are used to rank each team according to the ranking procedure used in Pool A and B.

Dates

The senior (men's and women's) Nations tournaments are held over seven to eight consecutive days (including rest days) some time during the last two weeks of July and the first four weeks of August every odd numbered year (2009, 2011, etc.).

Format

Qualification

Summary

Details

Dates

Results

Summaries

Top four statistics

Team appearances

See also

Notes

References

Further reading