Men’s Hockey World Cup: 5 Winners, 7 Runners up, 12 Semifinalists from 5 Continents in 13 Editions

Hockey World Cup, an idea proposed by Pakistan’s Air Marshal Nur Khan, started in 1971. Hockey World Cup trophy was designed by the Bashir Moojid and created by the Pakistani Army. While Pakistan remained the most successful nation till last World Cup, Germany has entered maximum semifinals. While Australians are the most dominant in last four editions, Indians entered semifinals and finals only in first three editions. How did each Winner and Continent Stand in 13 editions!

World Cup Hockey: Winners and Semifinalists of Past
History of Hockey World Cup

Overall 24 Nations have participated in different editions of World Cup and China will make debut in 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup.

The first tournament was played at a neutral ground, Spain, due to political tension between India and Pakistan. As 10 teams participated, the originator of the tournament, Pakistan won and hosts Spain finished Runners up. From then on, Pakistan emerged as the most successful nation with 4 Titles, 2 Runners up and 1 4th place.

2nd edition winner – hosts Netherlands have also entered final 6 times, but won thrice. They also finished third twice and fourth once.

Third most successful team, Australia has also won thrice, lost two finals and entered semifinals 10 times.

Fourth most successful team, Germany have won twice, lost twice in final but entered maximum 11 semifinals.

5th winner of the World Cup title is India, which has also finished Runners up once and finished third. After first three editions, India never entered the semifinals.

7 more teams entered semifinals, while 2 more teams entered finals to finish Runners up.

Continent Asia
Asians with 5 titles (4 for Pak, 1 for India) top Winner’s table in World Cup with Europe (Netherlands 3, Germany 2). But, while Indians never reached the semifinals after first three editions, Pakistan’s last entry to top four was 1994, when they won 4th title. Since then South Korea has entered semifinals twice (2002, 2006), while Malaysia entered only semifinal in 1975 when they finished 4th. Japan has also played, while China makes debut in 2018 World Cup.

Continent Europe
From Europe, titles have been won by Netherlands and Germany, which has entered record 11 semifinals. Spain and England have entered finals. Spain lost in 1971 and 1998 while England lost 1986 final, when Australia won its first World Cup title. 5th European team to enter semifinal is Soviet Union, which finished 4th in 1986. France, Belgium, Poland, Ireland, Italy and Belarus have also represented Europe.

Continent Australia
From Oceania, New Zealand is yet to enter semifinal while Australia is the most dominating team of last few editions. In 13 editions, after finishing 8th in 1971, skipping in 1973, 5th in 1975, Australia has entered 10 straight semifinals winning third title in the last World Cup 2014.

Continent America
Argentina is the only country from North or South America to have entered semifinals, once in 2014 when they finished third. Canada and Cuba also represented American continent.

Continent Africa
Kenya is the only African team to have entered semifinals and finished 4th in 1971. Ghana and South Africa also represented Africa.

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