It was originally scheduled to be held from 25 July to 6 August 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.[2]
Argentina won the previous olympic field hockey event but were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Belgium captured their first gold medal after defeating Australia in the final after penalties.[3] India won their first hockey medal since 1980 Summer Olympics by defeating Germany in the bronze-medal match.[4]
The twelve teams in the tournament were divided into two groups of six, with each team initially playing round-robin games within their group. Following the completion of the round-robin stage, the top four teams from each group advanced to the quarter-finals. The two semi-final winners met for the gold medal match, while the semi-final losers played in the bronze medal match.
Each of the Continental Champions from five confederations received an automatic berth. Japan as the host nation qualified automatically. The other teams qualified through the 2019 Men's FIH Olympic Qualifiers.[5]
^A – Japan qualified both as the hosts and the continental champions, therefore that quota is added to the FIH Olympic Qualifiers rather than going to the runners-up of the tournament.[5]
As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in regular time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.