Men's Hockey World Cup: Which Country Has Hosted the Most Hockey World Cup?

India created history by becoming the first country to host consecutive hockey men’s World Cups in 2018 and 2023. India is the nation with the most hosting performances overall, having hosted the World Cup twice, in 1982 and 2010. The World Cup of Hockey has happened in nine several nations in total. The only teams to have won a World Cup while serving as hosts are the Netherlands (1973, 1998) and Germany (2006). Besides Australia and Pakistan, other countries that had the honour of hosting the men’s hockey World Cup included Spain, England, and Pakistan.

The Insight View

The International Sports Hockey Federation hosts the Hockey World Cup, an international field hockey tournament (FIH). Frenchman Paul Leautey created the tour company in 1924. It has been hosted every four years, in between the Summer Olympics, since 1971. The six founding nations of the World Cup were Belgium, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Spain, Hungary, France, Spain, and Switzerland, each of which submitted both a men’s and women’s squad.

The best hockey teams around the world gather every four years to contend for Olympic medal gold, which is recognized as the highest award in the sport. The Asian teams dominated, with India alone taking home eight golds and Pakistan bringing home three. In the 1970s, Asian predominance started to decline. The speedier and stronger European nations started to compete better because of the change in surface, which led to a shift in defence. The first Hockey men’s World Cup was held in 1971, which significantly increased the popularity of field hockey, which was already on the rise.

A Few Details on the Country

In March 1969, at a council session of the FIH, India and Pakistan jointly suggested the idea of a hockey World Cup. Only the inaugural World Cup lacked qualification. The International Hockey Federation invited the top 10 teams from five continents based on their results at the Summer Olympics. It was an invitation-only competition. The teams were split into two groups of five each, and after the round-robin stage, the top two teams advanced to the semi-finals. The 1968 Olympic gold medalists, Pakistanis, were grouped in “B” with the runners-up, Australians, as well as Spain, the Netherlands, and Japan. Argentina, France, India, Kenya, and West Germany were in group “A.”

The International Hockey Federation was formed in 1982 when the FIH and IFWHA merged. There have been only five nations that have shared a World Cup victory. Pakistan has triumphed on four occasions, compared to three victories each for the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and India. There are two stages to the Hockey World Cup: the qualifying round and the championship match. Each stage follows the same format. All competing teams compete in the preliminary round during this phase. Teams fight for a spot in the championship tournament after being divided into two or even more pools. Since the top two clubs are essentially guaranteed spots, berths are determined during the playoffs.

The continental winners and other eligible teams compete in the championship game. The teams will again be split up into pools and compete in a round-robin format. The pools’ makeup is decided using the most recent global rankings. The top two teams from each pool compete for a spot in the final semi-finals, while the bottom two teams compete for third place. To determine their final standings, other clubs will compete in the playoffs. The teams compete for the fifth place if they finish fourth or third in their pool. The teams are competing for a ninth place if they finish either fifth or sixth in their pool.