Field hockey at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place from 29 July to 11 August at the Riverbank Arena within the Olympic Park.

Quick Facts Field hockey at the Games of the XXX Olympiad, Venue ...

Field hockey at the Games of the XXX Olympiad
Venue	Riverbank Arena
Dates	29 July – 11 August 2012
No. of events	2
Competitors	387 from 15 nations
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On 13 November 2010 the International Hockey Federation (FIH) decided to allocate 12 teams for each men and women events respectively.^[1]

Germany won the men's tournament for the fourth time, and the women's tournament was won by the Netherlands — their third Olympic women's hockey title.

Each of the continental champions received a berth alongside the host, Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales compete separately in most competitions, but send a combined team to the Olympics and selected friendly tournaments, which is managed by England Hockey),^[2][3] while another three spots were decided in qualifying tournaments.

For the men's tournament, Europe received two extra quota places, and Oceania one extra. While for the women's, Asia, Oceania and Europe each received one extra quota place. All were based on FIH world rankings.^[1]

However, South Africa as African champion for both tournaments gave up the automatic berth on the premise that they should play a qualifier having deemed the African tournament as sub-standard even though they won the African qualifier tournament. Instead they played in the men's and women's Olympic qualification tournament and made the cut. Their automatic berth was awarded to Spain in the men's tournament and Argentina in the women's.^[4][5][6]

Men's qualification

More information Date, Event ...

Date	Event	Location	Quotas	Qualifier(s)
Host nation			1	Great Britain (4)
15–25 November 2010	2010 Asian Games[7]	Guangzhou, China	1	Pakistan (8)
20–28 August 2011	2011 EuroHockey Championship	Mönchengladbach, Germany	3	Germany (2)  Netherlands (3)  Belgium1 (11)
2–11 September 2011	2011 African Olympic Qualifier	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	0	—2
6–9 October 2011	2011 Oceania Cup	Hobart, Australia	2	Australia (1)  New Zealand (7)
14–30 October 2011	2011 Pan American Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	1	Argentina (9)
18–26 February 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 1	New Delhi, India	1	India (10)
10–18 March 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 2	Dublin, Ireland	1	South Korea (6)
26 April – 6 May 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 3	Kakamigahara, Japan	1	South Africa (12)
Invitational			1	Spain2 (5)
Total			12

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^1 – Great Britain automatically qualified as host nation, therefore the berth obtained by England as third placed team at the 2011 EuroHockey Nations Championship was given to fourth placed team Belgium.

^2 – South Africa won the African qualifier tournament but gave up their automatic berth on the premise that they should play a qualifier having deemed the African tournament as sub-standard. Eventually they won the Qualification Tournament 3. Instead, Spain was invited as the highest ranked team not already qualified after the conclusion of the continental championships.^[8]

Women's qualification

More information Dates, Event ...

Dates	Event	Location	Quotas	Qualifier(s)
Host nation			1	Great Britain (4)
13–24 November 2010	2010 Asian Games	Guangzhou, China	2	China (5)  South Korea (8)
20–27 August 2011	2011 EuroHockey Championship	Mönchengladbach, Germany	2	Netherlands (1)  Germany (3)
2–11 September 2011	2011 African Olympic Qualifier	Bulawayo, Zimbabwe	0	—1
6–9 October 2011	2011 Oceania Cup	Hobart, Australia	2	New Zealand (6)  Australia (7)
14–30 October 2011	2011 Pan American Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	1	United States (10)
18–25 February 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 1	New Delhi, India	1	South Africa (12)
17–25 March 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 2	Kontich, Belgium	1	Belgium (16)
25 April – 5 May 2012	Olympic Qualification Tournament 3	Kakamigahara, Japan	1	Japan (9)
Invitational			1	Argentina1 (2)
Total			12

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^1 – South Africa won the African qualifier tournament but gave up their automatic berth on the premise that they should play a qualifier having deemed the African tournament as sub-standard. Eventually they won the Qualification Tournament 1. Instead, Argentina was invited as the highest ranked team not already qualified after the conclusion of the continental championships.^[9][10]