How They Qualified

The 2002 Champions Trophy had a new qualification format for the six elite teams of world hockey. To make the tournament a team had to be either of the below mentioned:

• Olympic gold medallist.
• World Cup gold medallist.
• Defending champion.
• Host nation.
• Winner of the Champions Challenge.
• The remaining teams from the ranking of the last World Cup.

The six teams:

Country	How they qualified
The Netherlands	Defending champion, host nation
Germany	Second at Champions Trophy 2002
Pakistan	Third at Champions Trophy 2002
India	Fourth at Champions Trophy 2002
Australia	Fifth at Champions Trophy 2002
Argentina	Winner of the Champions Challenge 2002