In the first part of the qualification, the five continental champions automatically gained an Olympic berth, where they were joined by the hosts, Japan.

Originally, twelve teams were to take part in the Olympic qualifying events.

[1] The seven Olympic qualifiers each featured two nations playing two back-to-back matches, with nations drawn to play each other based on their rankings at the end of the 2018 / 2019 Continental Championships.

It was held in October and November 2019 and the matches were hosted by the higher-ranked of the two competing nations.

[2] The participating teams were confirmed on 29 August 2019 by the International Hockey Federation.