FIH Junior Hockey World Cup: Germany dominate among men, Dutch impressive in women’s version
Germany have won the FIH junior men’s tournament a record seven times while the Netherlands are the most successful women’s team with five titles.
Hockey
Germany trumped France in the final of the FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for their seventh title while Spain and the Indian hockey team finished third and fourth, respectively.
The FIH men’s and women’s junior hockey World Cups showcase the world’s best young talent, ones who could be stars in the future.
Each player competing in the junior hockey World Cup must be below 21 years of age in the December of the year preceding the tournament.
The first junior hockey World Cup was held in 1979. It was only held for men and was an invitational tournament.
The FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup was initially a 12-team tournament which has since increased to 16 since the 2001 edition (though 20 teams played in 2009).
Pakistan became the inaugural men’s junior hockey World Cup champions, beating West Germany 2-0 in the final.
However, West Germany then went on to dominate the competition, winning a hat-trick of titles in 1982, 1985 and 1989 before winning a fourth title in 1993 as a unified German team.
Australia broke the German stranglehold as they won the 1997 edition, beating India 3-2 in the final. This was also the first time India had made it to the last four in a men’s junior hockey World Cup.
India went one better in 2001, winning their first title after dominating Argentina 6-1 in the final.
Argentina won their first title in 2005. In this edition, Germany failed to finish in the top-three for the first time in their history.
Germany won their fifth and sixth men’s junior hockey World Cup titles in 2009 and 2013 before India won their second title in 2016, making them only the second team to win multiple men’s junior hockey World Cup crowns. Argentina became the third country to do so after winning the tournament in 2021. Germany won their seventh title by defeating France 2-1 in the final of the 2023 edition.
FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup winners list
The first edition of the FIH women’s junior hockey World Cup was held in 1989, a decade after the first men’s World Cup. The Netherlands are the most successful team, having won five titles.
The tournament consisted of 12 teams for the first three editions and has been increased to 16 from 2005.
West Germany were crowned the first women’s junior hockey World Cup champions after beating South Korea 2-0 in the final. The German men and women did a junior double that year.
Dutch women won their first title in 1997 and won consecutive ones in 2009 and 2013. They beat Germany in the final of the 2022 edition in South Africa for their fourth title and then defended it next year by defeating Argentina in a penalty shoot-out in Chile.
Argentina won the 1993 and 2016 editions. They reached the final on four other occasions (2001, 2009, 2013 and 2023) but finished as the runners-up.
South Korea are the other team to win the women’s junior hockey World Cup, taking back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2005.
India’s best finish at a women’s junior hockey World Cup is third, in the 2013 edition. They came close to matching the feat in 2022 but lost to England in the bronze medal match to settle for fourth place.