Hockey World Cup 2023: What Is The Tie-Breaker Rule That Will Come Into Play In Group Stage?

Hockey World Cup 2023: In an interesting format, the topper of each group gets an advantage and proceeds to the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

The FIH Hockey Men's World Cup 2023 trophy displayed onboard INS Mormugao at Naval Dockyard, on December 20, 2022 in Mumbai, India. ( Image Source :(Photo by Bhushan Koyande/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) )

The FIH Men's Hockey World Cup is all set to be played in India in January 2023. The marquee event will be played from January 13-29 in the cities of Bhubaneshwar and Rourkela in the state of Odisha. The competition will feature the best 16 teams in the world fight it out for ultimate glory.

While the 16 teams find themselves divided into four pools of four teams each, India is in Group D along with Wales, Spain and England. In an interesting format, the topper of each group gets an advantage and proceeds to the quarterfinal round of the tournament. However, the next four teams who will meet them will be decided by crossover matches between teams that finish second and third in the pools.

What exactly is the tie-breaker rule?

It should be noted that for each win in the pool stage, the team will be rewarded 2 points. However, in case the match ends in a draw- both sides will be given 1 point each. However, if two or more teams remain unseparated on more than one parameter in the table then the tie-breaker rule will come into the picture.

Supposing the teams end on equal points, in this case the team with more number of wins will be given the higher rank in the group. But if there emerges a scenario when both the points as well as the number of matches won for two teams are equal, in that case, the goal difference will differentiate the teams implying the difference between the number of goals scored and conceded will be the tie-breaker.

The team, in this, which has a better goal difference will be the higher placed side in the group. In a rare scenario if even than the teams remain tied then the team which has scored more goals will get the preference. Assuming the two teams are still tied then the result of the head-to-head clash between them will determine which team will get the higher rank.