Barney, a former sailing athlete and coach, was previously the head of talent development with the governing body and will be tasked with overseeing both the men’s and women’s sides.

He takes over the role from Danny Kerry, who led the women’s team to an historic Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016.

Kerry has held the position on an interim basis since 2014 but announced back in April that he wanted to focus fully on coaching.

“I am delighted to be appointed as performance director and am very much looking forward to building on the good work that has already taken place over a number of years,” said Barney.

“Our sport is in an amazing place after the women's team's success in Rio, and we are now presented with a great opportunity.

“We now need to be clinical in converting recent success into long term, systemic and consistent medal-winning performance.”

Barney, who has also worked as a talent identification scientist with the England and Wales Cricket Board before joining GB Hockey in 2013, was chosen to become the performance director of the organisation following an extensive worldwide search, which lasted for three months.

“Ed's track record speaks for itself, he was the outstanding candidate and the unanimous choice of the selection panel,” England Hockey chief executive Sally Munday said.

"We interviewed an exceptionally strong field and Ed shone throughout the process against candidates from across hockey, as well as other Olympic disciplines and global professional sports.

"We have seen first hand the great impact he has made in our performance department, and the quality of his leadership to the talent programme across Great Britain.

“With his previous experience in international cricket and sailing he will also add a different perspective in leading our Performance Department and I am confident his experience, coupled with his drive and focus, will enable us to achieve our ambition of being consistently ranked in the top three sides in the world for both women and men.”