2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League

The 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League was the third edition of the women's field hockey national team league series and last season of the World League. The tournament started in April 2016 in Singapore and finished in November 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand.^[1][2]

2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League

Tournament details
Teams	60
Venue(s)	13 (in 13 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands (2nd title)
Runner-up	New Zealand
Third place	South Korea
← 2014–15 (previous) (next) 2019 Pro League →

The Semifinals of this competition also served as a qualifier for the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup as the 10/11 highest placed teams apart from the host nation and the five continental champions qualify.

The Netherlands won the tournament's Final round for a record second time after defeating host nation New Zealand 3–0 in the final match. South Korea won the third place match by defeating England 1–0.^[3]

From 2019 onwards, the tournament was replaced by Pro League.

Qualification

Each national association member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) had the opportunity to compete in the tournament, and after seeking entries to participate, several teams were announced to compete.

The eleven teams ranked between 1st and 11th in the FIH World Rankings current at early 2015 received an automatic bye to the Semifinals while the nine teams ranked between 12th and 20th received an automatic bye to Round 2.^[4] Those twenty teams, shown with qualifying rankings, were the following:^[5]

Netherlands (1)   Australia (2)   Argentina (3)   New Zealand (4)   United States (5)   Germany (6)   China (7)   England (8)   South Korea(9)   Japan (10)   South Africa (11)

Belgium (12)   India (13)   Ireland (14)   Spain (15)   Italy (16)   Scotland (17)   Belarus (18)   Azerbaijan (19)   Canada (20)

Schedule

Round 1

Main article: 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Round 1

Dates	Location	Teams	Round 2 Quotas	Round 2 Qualifier(s)
9–17 April 2016	Singapore	Brunei   Cambodia   Hong Kong   Kazakhstan   Singapore   Sri Lanka   Thailand	3	Thailand   Kazakhstan   Singapore
28 June–2 July 2016	Suva, Fiji	Fiji   Papua New Guinea   Solomon Islands   Tonga	1	Fiji
30 August–4 September 2016	Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic   Lithuania   Poland   Turkey   Ukraine	3	Czech Republic   Poland   Ukraine
9–11 September 2016	Accra, Ghana	Ghana   Kenya   Nigeria	1	Ghana
13–18 September 2016	Douai, France	Austria   France   Russia    Switzerland   Wales	3	Russia   Wales   France
27 September–2 October 2016	Salamanca, Mexico	Guatemala   Mexico   Trinidad and Tobago	1	Mexico
30 September–8 October 2016	Chiclayo, Peru	Brazil   Chile   Paraguay   Peru   Uruguay	2	Uruguay   Chile
12 October 2016	Appointed by FIH		1	Trinidad and Tobago

Round 2

Main article: 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Round 2

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Semifinals Quotas	Semifinals Qualifiers
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 1
14–22 January 2017	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Malaysia	Ireland   Italy	Fiji^1   Kazakhstan   Singapore   Thailand   Wales   Hong Kong	3	Ireland   Malaysia   Italy
4–12 February 2017	Valencia, Spain	Spain	Scotland   Azerbaijan^2	Czech Republic   Ghana   Poland   Russia   Turkey   Ukraine	3	Spain   Poland   Scotland
1–9 April 2017	West Vancouver, Canada	Canada	Belarus   India	Chile   France^3   Mexico   Trinidad and Tobago   Uruguay	2	India   Chile

^1 – Fiji withdrew from participating and Hong Kong took their place.

^2 – Azerbaijan withdrew from participating and Turkey took their place.

^3 – France withdrew from participating.

Semifinals

Main article: 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified			Final Quotas	Final Qualifiers
		Host	By Ranking	From Round 2
21 June–2 July 2017	Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	Australia   China   Netherlands   New Zealand   South Korea	Italy   Malaysia   Scotland   Spain	3	Netherlands   China   South Korea
8–23 July 2017	Johannesburg, South Africa	South Africa	Argentina   England   Germany   Japan   United States	Chile   India   Ireland   Poland	4	United States   Germany   England   Argentina

Final

Main article: 2016–17 Women's FIH Hockey World League Final

Dates	Location	Teams Qualified
		Host	From Semifinals
17–26 November 2017	Auckland, New Zealand	New Zealand	Argentina   China   England   Germany   Netherlands   South Korea   United States

Final ranking

FIH issued a final ranking to determine the world ranking. The final ranking was as follows:^[6]

1.   Netherlands
2.   New Zealand
3.   South Korea
4.   England
5.   Argentina
6.   Germany
7.   United States
8.   China
9.   Australia
10.   South Africa
11.   Japan
12.   Italy
13.   Ireland
14.   Spain
15.   Belgium
16.   India
17.   Chile
18.   Scotland
19.   Poland
20.   Malaysia
21.   Belarus
22.   Wales
23.   Uruguay
24.   Ukraine
25.   Czech Republic
26.   Canada
27.   Thailand
28.   Russia
29.   Mexico
30.   Singapore
31.   Turkey
32.   Kazakhstan
33.   Trinidad and Tobago
34.   Ghana
35.   Hong Kong

References

1. "FIH unveils event hosts for 2015-2018 cycle". FIH. 2013-11-08. Retrieved 2013-11-08.
2. "Valencia and Auckland play host to Hockey World League". FIH. 2014-03-15. Retrieved 2017-04-11.
3. "Classy Netherlands beat Brave Black Sticks in Sentinel Homes Hockey World League Final". FIH. 2017-11-26. Retrieved 2017-12-05.
4. "Hockey World League 2016 / 2017" (PDF). FIH. November 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
5. "FIH WOMEN'S WORLD RANKINGS - MARCH 2015" (PDF). FIH. March 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
6. "FIH WOMEN'S WORLD RANKINGS - DECEMBER 2017" (PDF). International Hockey Federation. FIH.ch. Retrieved 2017-12-12.