The men's field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

 was held over a thirteen day period beginning on August 11, and culminating with the medal finals on August 23. All games were played at the hockey field constructed on the Olympic Green. The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two pools of six teams with each team initially playing round-robin games within their pool. Following the completion of the round-robin, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the semifinals. All other teams played classification matches to determine the final tournament rankings. The two semifinal winners met for the gold medal match, while the semifinal losers played in the bronze medal match. Germany

Germany national field hockey team

The Germany national field hockey team represents Germany in international field hockey. The team have won the 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany...

 beat Spain

Spain national field hockey team

The Spain national field hockey team represents Spain in the international field hockey competitions. The team, coached by Dutchman Maurits Hendriks since 2002, competed in every World Cup since the first edition in 1971. Spain is ranked fourth in the world, as of June 30, 2008...

 in the gold medal game, while Australia claimed third place over the Netherlands

Netherlands national field hockey team

The Netherlands national field hockey team is the national team of the Netherlands that participates in international field hockey matches and tournaments...

 in the bronze medal match.

Qualification

The twelve teams in the men's Olympic hockey tournaments qualified through a series of tournaments. China was given an automatic entry as the Olympic host nation. Five continental championships were used to determine eight other qualifiers. Teams who did not qualify through these tournaments were invited to attend three Olympic qualification tournaments to determine the final three entrants.

Date	Event	Location	Qualifier
	Host nation
2–14 December 2006	2006 Asian Games Hockey at the 2006 Asian Games The field hockey tournament at the 2006 Asian Games was held from December 2, 2006 to December 14, 2006 in Al-Rayyan Hockey Field.In this event, 10 teams participated in men's events and 7 teams participated in women's events.-Medal table:...	Doha Doha Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar... , Qatar Qatar Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
14–22 July 2007	2007 African Olympic Qualifier	Nairobi Nairobi Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is... , Kenya Kenya Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
14–29 July 2007	2007 Pan American Games Field hockey at the 2007 Pan American Games Field Hockey at the 2007 Pan American Games took place at the Field Hockey Centre at the Círculo Militar Deodoro. The field was adapted from a football field specially for the Games....	Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th... , Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
18–25 August 2007	2007 EuroHockey Nations Championship 2007 Men's EuroHockey Nations Championship The 2007 EuroHockey Nations Championship for men is the 11th edition of EuroHockey Nations Championship. It was held in Manchester, England from August 19 to August 26, 2007...	Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater... , England England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
11–17 September 2007	2007 Oceania Cup 2007 Oceania Cup The 2007 Oceania Cup is the 5th tournament of Oceania Cup field hockey tournament. It was held in Buderim, Queensland, Australia from 11 September to 16 September 2007. The champions of the tournament, as well as the second placed women's team, will also awarded a place in the 2008 Beijing Olympic...	Buderim, Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
2–10 February 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 1	Auckland Auckland The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world... , New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
1–9 March 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2	Santiago Santiago, Chile Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level... , Chile Chile Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
5–13 April 2008	Olympic Qualifying Tournament 3	Kakamigahara Kakamigahara, Gifu is a city located in the Gifu Prefecture of central Japan. It was founded on 1 April 1963 by the merger of Naka, Sohara, Unuma, and Inaba. Kakamigahara covers a total area of... , Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

Umpires

Fifteen umpires for the men's event were appointed by the FIH

International Hockey Federation

The International Field Hockey Federation is the global governing body of field hockey...

. During each match, a video umpire was used to assist the on-field umpires in determining if a goal had been legally scored.

Pool A

4

6

2

1

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
	12	5	4	0	1	9	5
	11	5	3	2	0	12	6
	7	5	2	1	2	13	11
	7	5	2	1	2	10	9
	4	5	1	1	3	9	13	−4
	1	5	0	1	4	7	16	−9

Qualified for semifinals

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Pool B

10

17

3

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
	13	5	4	1	0	16	6
	11	5	3	2	0	24	7
	8	5	2	2	1	10	7
	6	5	2	0	3	11	13	−2
	4	5	1	1	3	10	17	−7
	0	5	0	0	5	4	25	−21

Qualified for semifinals

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Eleventh and twelfth place

Ninth and tenth place

Seventh and eighth place

Fifth and sixth place

Medal Round

Semi-finals

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Bronze medal match

Gold medal match