2012–13 Women's FIH Hockey World League
# 2012–13 Women's FIH Hockey World League

The 2012–13 Women's FIH Hockey World League was the inaugural edition of the women's field hockey national team league series. The tournament started in August 2012 in Prague, Czech Republic and finished in December 2013 in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina.

The Semifinals of this competition also served as a qualifier for the 2014 Women's Hockey World Cup as the 6 highest placed teams apart from the host nation and the five continental champions qualified.

The Netherlands won the tournament's Final round for the first time after defeating Australia 5–1 in the final match. England won the third place match by defeating host nation Argentina 4–2 on a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw.

## 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, 51 teams were announced to compete. However, for different reasons, the final count of participating teams was 45.

The 8 teams ranked between 1st and 8th in the FIH World Rankings current as of April 2011 received an automatic bye to the Semifinals while the 8 teams ranked between 9th and 16th received an automatic bye to Round 2. Those sixteen teams, shown with qualifying rankings, were the following:

* Argentina (1)
* Netherlands (2)
* Germany (3)
* China (4)
* England (5)
* Australia (6)
* New Zealand (7)
* South Korea (8)
* Japan (9)
* Spain (10)
* India (11)
* South Africa (12)
* United States (13)
* Azerbaijan (14)
* Ireland (15)
* Chile (16)

## Schedule

### Round 1

| Dates | Location | Teams | Round 2 Quotas | Round 2 Qualifier(s) |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 14–19 August 2012 | Prague, Czech Republic | Belarus Czech Republic France Italy Scotland Turkey | 4 | Belarus Italy Scotland Czech Republic |
| 7–9 September 2012 | Accra, Ghana | Ghana Nigeria | 1 | Ghana |
| 14–16 September 2012 | Kuantan, Malaysia | Kazakhstan Malaysia Singapore Sri Lanka | 2 | Malaysia Kazakhstan |
| 18–23 September 2012 | Vienna, Austria | Austria Belgium Lithuania Russia Ukraine Wales | 4 | Belgium Russia Ukraine Austria |
| 11–17 November 2012 | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | Barbados Canada Guyana Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela | 3 | Canada Uruguay Trinidad and Tobago |
| 8–15 December 2012 | Suva, Fiji | Fiji Papua New Guinea Samoa Vanuatu | 1 | Fiji |

### Round 2

| Dates | Location | Teams Qualified | Teams Qualified | Teams Qualified | Semifinals Quotas | Semifinals Qualifiers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dates | Location | Host | By Ranking | From Round 1 | Semifinals Quotas | Semifinals Qualifiers |
| 21–27 January 2013 | Cape Town, South Africa | South Africa | Azerbaijan | Austria Belgium Ghana Canada | 2 | South Africa Belgium |
| 18–24 February 2013 | New Delhi, India | India | Japan | Fiji Kazakhstan Malaysia Russia | 2 | India Japan |
| 25 February – 3 March 2013 | Valencia, Spain | Spain | Ireland | Belarus Ukraine Czech Republic Italy | 2 | Italy Spain |
| 4–10 March 2013 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Brazil | Chile United States | Scotland Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay | 2 | United States Chile |

    ^1 – Ukraine and Canada withdrew from participating.

### Semifinals

| Dates | Location | Teams Qualified | Teams Qualified | Teams Qualified | Final Quotas | Final Qualifiers |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dates | Location | Host | By Ranking | From Round 2 | Final Quotas | Final Qualifiers |
| 13–22 June 2013 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Netherlands | Germany New Zealand South Korea | Belgium Chile India Japan | 4 | Germany Netherlands South Korea New Zealand |
| 22–30 June 2013 | London, England | England | Argentina Australia China | Italy South Africa Spain United States | 3 | Australia England China |

### Final

| Dates | Location | Teams Qualified | Teams Qualified |
| - | - | - | - |
| Dates | Location | Host | From Semifinals |
| 30 November – 8 December 2013 | San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina | Argentina | Australia China England Germany South Korea Netherlands New Zealand |

## Final ranking

FIH issued a final ranking to determine the world ranking. The final ranking was as follows:

* Netherlands
* Australia
* England
* Argentina
* New Zealand
* China
* Germany
* South Korea
* Japan
* United States
* Belgium
* Italy
* South Africa
* India
* Spain
* Chile
* Malaysia
* Scotland
* Belarus
* Azerbaijan
* Uruguay
* Russia
* Ireland
* Austria
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Kazakhstan
* Ghana
* Czech Republic
* Brazil
* Fiji
