Rules Of The Game
Duration
A hockey match consists of two halves of 35 minutes with a half-time interval of 10 minutes.
Players
A team is made up of a maximum 18 players, composed of 11 players on the field and up to seven substitutes. If a team has only one goalkeeper, they play a match with a maximum of 16 players.
Substitutions
There are no limits on the number of substitutions, apart from during a penalty corner
or video referral when substitutions are not allowed.
Green card
If a player is shown a green card by the umpire, he or she has a temporary suspension lasting two minutes. This means the team plays with one fewer player during this period. The time penalty kicks in when the suspended player sits on a chair next to the technical table. After the two minutes are up, the player can return to the pitch. The Technical Officer on duty is responsible for timing the temporary suspension.
Playing the ball above shoulder height
A player may play the ball above shoulder height with his or her stick provided this is not dangerous or leads to dangerous play. This rules applies to the entire pitch, including inside the circle.
40-second rule during a penalty corner
A penalty corner must be taken within 40 seconds of being awarded. This can be monitored on the PC countdown clock. The umpire will ensure all players are ready in time. A player delaying and causing the time to overrun will be given a green card.
The 40-second requirement does not apply if the game has been halted because of injury (depending upon the type of injury) or if the penalty corner results in a re-award immediately afterwards.
Video umpire
Each team is allowed one video umpire team referral per match. Team referrals are restricted to decisions within the 23 metre areas relating to the award (or non-award) of goals, penalty strokes and penalty corners. The on pitch umpires will ask the video umpire to study the relevant images and for his or her advice and recommendation. If the referral is successful, the team retains the right to make another team referral.
If the referral is unsuccessful, the team loses the right to use the video umpire for the rest of the game. The umpires may also consult the video umpire, using their own umpire referral, if they have doubts about whether or not to award a goal.
Shoot-outs
During the classification phase of the World Cup, a shoot-out competition will be used if the teams remain drawn after 70 minutes. Each team picks five players who will each take one shoot-out. If the teams are drawn after the 10 shoot-outs, the winner will be chosen by sudden death. When one team has scored or been awarded one more goal than the opposing team after an equal number of shoot-outs that team is the winner.
Tournament Rules
All the teams in the pool will play each other and points will be awarded as follows:
Win: 3 points for the winning team
Draw: 1 point per team
Loss: 0 points for the loser
The pool standings will be calculated according to each team’s points. If teams have the same number of points at the end of the pool stage, they will be ranked according to wins. If the teams have also won the same number of matches, they will be ranked on goal difference – goals scored minus goals conceded. If the teams are still equal, they will be ranked by the most number of goals scored. Finally, if still equal a shoot-outs competition will be played. If two or more times are tied, then each team will play a shoot-out competition against the other teams in the same sequence of play as in the pool.
Knock out rounds
The sequence of play may not necessarily be in the order as shown below.
The semi-finals will be played as follows:
Winner pool A v Second pool B
Winner pool B v Second pool A
The winners of these two matches will take part in the final for first and second place.
The losers will play for third and fourth place.
The matches to determine fifth and sixth place will be played as follows:
3rd pool A v 3rd pool B
The matches to determine seventh and eighth place will be played as follows:
4th pool A v 4th pool B
The matches to determine ninth and tenth place will be played as follows
5th pool A v 5th pool B
The matches to determine eleventh and twelfth place will be played as follows
6th pool A v 6th pool B