Field hockey

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Field hockey

Field hockey at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Highest governing body	International Hockey Federation
First played	19th-century England
Characteristics
Contact	Limited
Team members	10 outfield players and 1 goalkeeper drawn from a squad of 17
Type	Outdoor and indoor
Equipment	Hockey ball, hockey stick, mouthguard, shin guards and goalkeeper kit
Presence
Olympic	1908, 1920, 1928–present

Field hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalkeeper. Teams must move a hockey ball around a field by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting circle and then into the goal. The match is won by the team that scores the most goals. Matches are played on grass, watered turf, artificial turf, or indoor boarded surface.

The stick has evolved significantly over the history of the game in its composition and shape. Wooden sticks, though once standard, have become increasingly uncommon as advancements in technology made synthetic materials cheaper. Today, sticks are typically made of a combination of carbon fibre, fibreglass, and aramid, in varying quantities.^[1] At the elite level, sticks with a very high carbon content are near universally preferred. The stick has two sides; one rounded and one flat; only the flat face of the stick is allowed to progress the ball. If the ball is "played" with the rounded part of the stick (i.e., stopped or hit), it will result in a penalty, though accidental touches are not an offence as long as they do not materially affect play. Goalkeepers often have a different design of stick; they also cannot play the ball with the round side of their stick. Goalkeepers are allowed to touch the ball with any part of their body when inside their shooting circle. No other player is allowed to touch the ball except with their stick, though a player's hand is considered part of the stick if holding the stick.

The modern game was developed at public schools in 19th-century England and it is now played globally.^[2] The governing body is the International Hockey Federation (FIH), called the Fédération Internationale de Hockey in French. Men and women are represented internationally in competitions including the Olympic Games, World Cup, FIH Pro League, Junior World Cup and in past also World League, Champions Trophy. Many countries run extensive junior, senior, and masters club competitions. The FIH is also responsible for organizing the Hockey Rules Board and developing the sport's rules.

The sport is known simply as hockey in countries where it is the more common form of hockey. The term field hockey is used primarily in Canada and the United States, where hockey more often refers to ice hockey. In Sweden and Finland, the term landhockey and maahockey respectively are used, translating to "ground" hockey in opposition to the more standard ice hockey variant. A popular variant is indoor field hockey, which differs in a number of respects while embodying the primary principles of hockey.