Field Hockey Olympic Qualifiers: How to Watch Team USA, How It Works, Schedule
The 2020 Summer Olympics are less than a year away, setting up the final wave of qualifying for men's and women's field hockey. The FIH Olympic Qualifiers begin Friday, with 28 men's and women's teams playing for the final 14 spots in Tokyo.
The women of Team USA are one of those teams, and they will play two matches against host India in what is the last chance to clinch a berth in the Olympics. The winner on aggregate score after the two matches will qualify.
Below find everything you need to know about FIH Olympic Qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, including the men's and women's teams playing, how the process works, the full match schedule and how to watch and stream the games.
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FIH Olympic Qualifiers: Teams
Twelve women's teams and 12 men's teams will make up the field hockey tournament at the 2020 Games. Five teams in each division have already qualified. Those teams are:
- Women's: Japan, Argentina, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa
- Men's: Japan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, South Africa
That leaves seven spots available on each side, to be contested by the following 14 women's and men's teams:
- Women's: United States, India, Australia, Russia, China, Belgium, Spain, Korea, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Chile, Ireland, Canada
- Men's: Spain, France, Netherlands, Pakistan, Canada, Ireland, India, Russia, New Zealand, Korea, Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Malaysia
To read more about each how each team hopes to qualify, go here.
How the qualifying process works
Qualifying for the field hockey tournament in the Olympics is a process that has taken place since the start of 2019 that involves the results of the FIH Pro League and Series Finals, continental championships and FIH world rankings.
Japan automatically receives a spot as the host nation. The top four finishers in the Pro League automatically qualify, as do the five total top finishers in the FIH Series Finals. Teams that won their continental championships, like Argentina's men and women winning gold medals at the Pan American Games, also automatically qualified.
In some cases, a continental champion and a top FIH finisher was the same team, creating an open slot. As a result, that's how we enter the FIH Olympic Qualifiers with seven Olympic spots on the line. The teams competing for those places are the 14 highest-ranked teams remaining in the latest FIH world rankings, which were released in September.
Once those rankings came out, FIH held a draw to determine the match pairings for the final Olympic Qualifiers. The qualifiers will be two matches played on back-to-back days at the same venue. The country with the higher ranking will host both matches.
The overall winner of the two matches, based on aggregate score, will qualify for the Tokyo Games. Here are more details on the qualifying draw.
Full Schedule (all times Eastern)
Women
No. 9 India vs. No. 13 United States | Friday, Nov. 1 at 8:30 a.m. Watch here, and Saturday, Nov. 2 at 8:30 a.m. Watch here.
To learn more about Team USA's preparation for these matches, go here
No. 2 Australia vs. No. 19 Russia | Friday, Oct. 25 at 3 a.m. and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 a.m.
No. 10 China vs. No. 12 Belgium | Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26, both at 6 a.m.
No. 7 Spain vs. No. 11 Korea | Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26, both at 2 p.m.
No. 4 Germany vs. No. 17 Italy | Saturday, Nov. 2 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 8:30 a.m.
No. 5 Great Britain vs. No. 18 Chile | Saturday, Nov. 2 at 9 a.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 7 a.m.
No. 8 Ireland vs. No. 15 Canada | Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2:50 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.
Men
No. 8 Spain vs. No. 12 France | Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26, both at 12 p.m.
No. 3 Netherlands vs. No. 17 Pakistan | Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27, both at 10 a.m.
No. 10 Canada vs. No. 13 Ireland | Saturday, Oct. 26 and Sunday, Oct. 27, both at 5 p.m.
No. 5 India vs. No. 22 Russia | Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2, both at 10:30 a.m.
No. 9 New Zealand vs. No. 16 Korea | Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2, both at 10 p.m.
No. 6 Germany vs. No. 20 Austria | Saturday, Nov. 2 at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 10:30 a.m.
No. 7 Great Britain vs. No. 11 Malaysia | Saturday, Nov. 2 at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 10 a.m.
How to watch, streaming information
Both Team USA women's matches and most of the remaining FIH Olympic Qualifiers will stream live on B/R Live. The links above will take you directly to each Team USA game.
Fans can stream individual matches for $2.99 each or subscribe to the B/R Live Monthly Pass to watch every FIH Olympic Qualifier on B/R Live for $9.99 total.
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