The Salima Tete-led side went past Australia to go eighth in the rankings after their best ever finish in 52 years at the Women’s World Cup
Published: September 1, 2026, 2:50 PM IST
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The Indian women’s Hockey team celebrates after beating Netherlands in 5th/6th place match at the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup 2026(Credits: Hockey India/X)
The Indian men’s and women’s Hockey teams remained in the eighth spot in the latest issue of the FIH world rankings after a disappointing and lackluster outing in the recently concluded Hockey World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The men’s team, led by Harmanpreet Singh, had finished eighth in the tournament which helped them gather 3072 ranking points, helping them retain their position as the highest-ranked team from the Asian continent.
India’s campaign started with a 3-1 win over Wales in AmstelveenSanjay scored early before Harmanpreet Singh added two goals from penalty cornersWales pulled one back late but India held on for a winning start.
The second game exposed one of India’s biggest problems in the tournamentIndia led England 2-1 but conceded three goals as England completed a 4-2 comebackNicholas Bandurak scored twice, while Stuart Rushmere and Henry Croft also found the netIndia were unable to protect their lead and their defensive lapses became a major concern.
India bounced back against Pakistan, producing their best result of the pool stage with a 5-3 winHarmanpreet and Abhishek scored twice each, while Hardik Singh was also on the scoresheetThe win put India second in Pool D behind England and kept their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive.
However, India could not carry that momentum into the next stageThey lost 3-1 to the Netherlands with the hosts taking control of the match after the Indians struggled to convert their chancesThe result had officially ended their campaign before their 5-3 defeat against Argentina.
Those performances helped India retain their spot at eighth where they started the World CupGermany moved to the top after winning their second straight World Cup with Belgium dropping to secondAustralia has climbed to third, followed by Argentina, the Netherlands, Spain and England.
The FIH has also released the world rankings for the women’s game with India sitting at eighthThe Salima Tete-led side went past Australia to go eighth in the rankings after their best ever finish in 52 years at the Women’s World Cup.
The Indians finished fifth in the tournament after beating Germany 3-1 in the 5th/6th place match last month at the NetherlandsThey have a rating of 2938, which is better than Australia and the United States of America, who are placed ninth and tenth.
World cup co-hosts Netherlands and Belgium are first and third, while newly crowned world champions Argentina sit second 3757 pointsChina, the highest ranked team in Asia are fourth, whereas Spain, Germany and England take the following spots.
