Due to the
outbreak COVID-19 pandemic in China, the
FIH decided in late January to put on hold the matches between
China and
Belgium, initially scheduled on 8 and 9 February in
Changzhou. For the rest of the upcoming matches in China, the FIH monitored the evolution of the situation closely and following the recommendations of the
World Health Organization applied in early February the same measures for the matches scheduled on 14 and 15 March against
Australia, Meanwhile, it was evaluated the possibility for China to play these and their other matches on hold in alternative locations. In the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Europe,
Hockey Australia decided to suspend all international travels for its national teams until further notice in early March. The matches against
Germany and
Netherlands, scheduled on 21 and 22 and 26 and 29 March respectively, were postponed. Later
Hockey New Zealand took the same decision, postponing their matches scheduled on 19 and 22 March against
Netherlands and on 28 and 29 March against
Germany. Once declared as a pandemic on 11 March, the FIH and all participating National Associations involved in the competition decided to put all the matches scheduled until 15 April on hold. Furthermore, it was agreed that the current edition is maintained, no matches will be played after the
Olympic Games and depending on the evolution of the situation and the decisions of the public authorities, every match which can be organized between late April and before the Olympics, shall be played. On 19 March, it was announced by the FIH that all the matches scheduled to play until 17 May were put on hold. On 24 April, it was announced that the competition is extended until June 2021. The restart for September 2020, was announced on 9 July. Because not all matches are due to be played before the end of the season, the final ranking will be determined by points percentage instead of total points. On 28 May, it was announced that despite the efforts of the involved federations, the matches set to play before the announcing date were going to be the last of the edition. ==Teams==