Namibia has made significant progress on the indoor hockey world rankings with both their men and women’s teams now amongst the top ten in the world.
Following the success of Namibia at the recent Indoor Hockey World Cup in Porec, Croatia, with the women finishing sixth and the men eighth, they have scaled new heights, with both teams now ranked eighth in the world.
Going into the tournament Namibia’s women were ranked 12th in the world, but they produced some major upsets to eventually finish sixth overall.
In their opening match they beat Australia, then ranked fourth in the world, 3-2, and after a 7-0 victory against New Zealand they already booked their place in the knockout stages.
Despite losing 8-1 to Germany and 5-1 to Austria, Namibia beat Thailand 3-2 to qualify for the fifth-place play-off where they lost 6-1 to Belgium.
That gave them their best-ever finish of sixth position at the world cup, which has now seen their world ranking shooting up.
In the process they also became Africa’s top-ranked nation, overtaking South Africa, who are now ranked ninth, after they finished in the same position in Porec.
Austria remain the top ranked female team in the world, despite losing the World Cup final 1-0 to Poland, who move up to third on the rankings, behind the Czech Republic.
Germany are now fourth and Australia fifth, followed by Belgium and the United States.
Namibia are eighth and South Africa ninth, while Ukaine complete the top ten rankings.
Namibia’s men have also reached their highest ever-ranking of eighth following their exploits in Porec.
Before the tournament they were ranked 14th in the world, but they qualified for the knockout stages after beating Trinidad and Tobago 6-3 and drawing 5-5 against Australia.
In the last eight play-off matches they lost 7-6 to Belgium, 4-3 to Australia, and 5-4 to Iran to finish eighth overall, which tied their performance at the 2023 Indoor Hockey World Cup in Pretoria, South Africa.
Like their women, Austria’s men are also ranked top in the world, despite losing the world cup final on penalties to Germany, who are ranked second.
They are followed by Belgium, Iraq and Australia, while South Africa, who won the bronze medal in Porec, are now ranked sixth in the world.
They are followed by Poland, Namibia, Argentina and the Czech Republic.
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