Following last week’s FIH world rankings update, and the official acceptance of invitations to participate by Spain's women and New Zealand's men, the pools have now been determined.

In women’s Pool A, defending Olympic and reigning world champions The Netherlands, ranked number one in the world, will face China, Germany, South Korea, Spain and 2015 Hockey World League (HWL) runners-up New Zealand.

This year’s HWL champions Argentina, ranked number two in the world, will meet Australia, Great Britain, the United States, Japan and India in women’s Pool B.

In the men’s event, Pool A sees reigning world and HWL champions Australia go up against Great Britain, New Zealand, Spain, hosts Brazil and 2015 HWL runners-up Belgium.

As for Pool B, world number two ranked The Netherlands will play Argentina, India, Ireland, Canada and defending Olympic champions Germany.

The full match schedule for all the pool games and play-off stages is due to be confirmed in February.

Spain’s women and New Zealand’s men were invited to participate following the decision of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee’s (SASCOC) to reject invitations for their men’s and women’s hockey teams.

Both South African sides earned a place at the Games after winning their respective African Championships in November, but SASCOC insists on strict qualification criteria and believes that the continental route is not good enough.

Instead, both teams could only confirm their berths through the HWL, something they were unable to do.

New Zealand and Spain, therefore, profited as they were the highest placed teams from the HWL Semi-Finals who had not already qualified

To download the FIH Qualification System for Rio 2016, click Qualification system for Olympic Games Rio 2016.pdf.