9 of the 12 available places in the Olympic hockey tournament have already been filled through the various continental championships that took place between December 2006 and September 2007. The three remaining places will be occupied by the three winners of the Olympic qualifying tournaments held in Baku (April 12-20), Kazan (April 19-27), and Victoria (April 26-May 4).

In each of those three tournaments, 6 teams will be battling for the elusive ticket to Beijing, with participants as diverse as 1992 Olympic gold medal winners Spain, who finished 4th in the 2006 World Cup, Korea and the USA who finished 6th and 9th in the same most recent World Cup tournament, the Indian Eves, who have the hopes of a nation resting on their shoulders after the Indian men failed to qualify, as well as countries such as the Netherlands Antilles, who have burst onto the international scene no more than a few years ago, or Kenya, Uruguay, Malaysia, and the Belgian women - who dream of emulating their men's team's feat who surprised everyone by overcoming World Champions Germany in last year's European Nations Championships to directly qualify for Beijing.

Click here for more information on the current situation in the qualification process for the 2008 Olympic hockey tournament

Tournament Regulations

Each of the six teams plays each other once in a round robin format to complete five preliminary round games (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 point for a loss).

The top two teams at the end of the preliminary round matches play off in the all important final, with the winner qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games. The 3rd and 4th placed teams play for the bronze medal, and the 5th and 6th placed teams meet in the 5th place playoff.

If teams are equal on points at the end of the preliminary rounds, they will be ranked according the following criteria (in order):

• Matches won
• Goal difference
• Goals for
• Result between equal teams in preliminary round

If teams can't be separated after the criteria above are applied, then a penalty stroke competition will be played. 

View the complete Tournament Regulations (PDF)