FIH Junior Hockey World Cup

2023.12.11

Germany is the male champion, while the Dutch are the female champions.

Germany have won the FIH junior men’s tournament a record six times while the Netherlands are the most successful women’s team with five titles.

Argentina won the FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2021 in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, defeating six-time winners Germany in the final, while France and the Indian hockey team placed third and fourth, respectively.

The FIH men’s and women’s junior hockey World Cups showcase the world’s greatest young talent, including future stars.

Each junior hockey World Cup competitor must be under the age of 21 in December of the year preceding the event.

In 1979, the inaugural Junior Hockey World Cup was contested. It was an invitational competition open solely to men.

The FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup began with 12 teams and has subsequently grown to 16 from the 2001 edition (though 20 teams competed in 2009).

Pakistan won the inaugural men’s junior hockey World Cup, defeating West Germany in the final 2-0.

West Germany, on the other hand, went on to dominate the competition, capturing a hat-trick of wins in 1982, 1985, and 1989 before gaining a fourth victory as a unified German team in 1993.

Australia ended Germany’s dominance by winning the 1997 tournament, defeating India 3-2 in the final. This was also India‘s first appearance in the final four of a men’s junior hockey World Cup.

In 2001, India went one further, earning their first title after defeating Argentina 6-1 in the final.

Argentina won their first championship in 2005. For the first time in their history, Germany did not finish in the top three in this edition.

Germany won their fifth and sixth men’s junior hockey World Cup titles in 2009 and 2013, respectively, until India won their second title in 2016, becoming only the second team in history to win multiple men’s junior hockey World Cup titles. After winning the tournament in 2021, Argentina became the third country to accomplish so.

FIH Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup winners list

The FIH women’s junior hockey world championship was first staged in 1989, a decade after the first men’s World Cup. With five championships, the Netherlands are the most successful team.

For the first three years, the competition included 12 teams, which was enlarged to 16 in 2005.

West Germany won the first women’s junior hockey World Cup, defeating South Korea 2-0 in the final. That year, the German men and women completed a junior double.

The FIH women’s junior hockey World Cup debuted in 1989, a decade after the first men’s World Cup. The Netherlands has the most championships, having won five.

The competition began with 12 teams and was expanded to 16 teams in 2005.

After defeating South Korea 2-0 in the final, West Germany became the first women’s junior hockey World Cup winners. That year, the German men and women did a junior double.

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.

FIH Women’s Junior Hockey World Cup winners list

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