The most successful team in the history of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, Pakistan have won the tournament four times and have been runners-up twice. They have also finished fourth once. Pakistan won the inaugural World Cup held in Barcelona in 1971 before winning consecutive titles at Buenos Aires 1978 and Mumbai 1982.
Their last title came at Sydney 1994. Pakistan were knocked out in the semi-finals by India in Amstelveen 1973 and were thus unable to defend their inaugural title.
Pakistan’s attempts to win a second World Cup in 1975 also ended in a defeat to their arch-rivals, this time in the final. However, they then beat the Netherlands in 1978 and then West Germany in 1982 to become the first team to defend their World Cup title. They remain only one of three teams to do so, with Germany and Australia joining the list after the turn of the century.
Since 1994, Pakistan have gone through a rather steady decline that has only accelerated since they won their last Asian Games gold in 2010. In 2014, Pakistan failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history. They managed to reach the tournament in 2018 but failed to win a single match and were knocked out in the group stage. They haven’t qualified for the 2023 World Cup.
