Hockey World Cup winners: Pakistan top men’s roll of honour, Netherlands dominate women’s competition
The Pakistan men’s hockey team is the most successful with four titles while the Dutch women are nine-time champions. Full list of hockey World Cup winners!
Hockey
Conceptualized to expand the sport beyond the Olympics, the Hockey World Cup is currently the premier standalone hockey event in the world, for both men and women.
While the Olympics are still considered Blue Riband events, the Hockey World Cup has, over the years, carved out its own place of significance alongside the Summer Games.
The men’s hockey World Cup was the first one to start with the inaugural edition held in Barcelona, Spain, in 1971. Incidentally, the 1971 event was originally slated to be held in Pakistan but was later shifted to Spain because of political conflict in Asia at that point of time.
Though they lost the hosting rights, Pakistan emerged as the first men’s hockey World Cup winners after beating Spain in the final of the 10-team tournament.
It seemed at a point that Pakistan would fail to make it beyond the group stage as the Netherlands were expected to thrash minnows Japan in the final match of Pool B, which would have seen Pakistan exit the tournament.
Japan, however, pulled off an 1-0 upset win over the Dutch, handing the eventual champions a new lease of life. The Pakistan hockey team, then the reigning Asian and Olympic champions, made the most out of the opportunity to beat arch-rivals India 2-1 in the semi-finals before trumping the hosts 1-0 in the final, courtesy an Akhtarul Islam goal.
Pakistan are also the most successful nation in the men’s hockey World Cup, winning four titles (1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994). The Netherlands, Australia and Germany have won three World Cups each.
India, meanwhile, have struggled in the competition.
Despite being record eight-time Olympic champions, the Indian hockey team only managed to win one World Cup title. India's solitary triumph came in 1975 in Kuala Lumpur under the captaincy of Ajit Pal Singh. The team was managed by the legendary Balbir Singh Sr.
India beat Pakistan 2-1 in the 1975 final with Ashok Kumar, the son of Indian hockey wizard Dhyan Chand, scoring the winning goal.
Germany are the reigning men’s FIH World Cup champions, having clinched the 2023 edition held in Odisha, India.
Men’s Hockey World Cup winners list
The first edition of the women’s hockey World Cup, meanwhile, was held in 1974 in the Netherlands. The Dutch team became the inaugural women’s hockey World Cup champions, defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final.
The Netherlands have dominated the women’s hockey World Cup and are the most successful team in the competition with nine titles (1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1990, 2006, 2014, 2018, 2022). They are also the reigning champions.
Besides the Dutch, only three other teams, Argentina, Australia and Germany, have ever won the women’s FIH World Cup. Each have two titles to their name.
India’s best-ever showing at the women’s hockey World Cup came in the inaugural edition in 1974, where they finished fourth. It remains their only semi-final appearance to date.