Women's Hockey World Cup

For other hockey World Cups, see World Cup (hockey) (disambiguation).

Women's Hockey World Cup

Current season or competition: 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup
Sport	Field hockey
Founded	1974
No. of teams	12
Continent	International (FIH)
Most recent champion(s)	Argentina (2 titles)
Most titles	Netherlands (6 titles)
Official website	worldhockey.org

The Women's Hockey World Cup is the field hockey World Cup competition for women, whose format for qualification and final tournament is similar to the men's. It has been held since 1974. The tournament has been organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) since they merged with the International Federation of Women's Hockey Associations (IFWHA) in 1982. Since 1986, it has been held regularly once every four years, in the same year as the men's competition, which is mid cycle between Summer Olympic games.

Of the twelve tournaments held so far, only four teams have won the event. Netherlands is the most successful team, having won the title six times. Argentina, Germany and Australia are joint second best teams, having each won the title twice. So far, Netherlands and Australia are the two champions able to defend their titles. At the end of the 2006 world cup, fourteen nations had reached the semifinal of the tournament.

There has been no limitation on the size of the competition. The 1974 and 1978 World Cups featured 10 nations (smallest); the 1976 World Cup featured 11 nations; the 2002 World Cup featured 16 nations (largest); the remaining seven World Cups have featured 12 nations.

The 2006 Women's World Hockey Cup was held at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Madrid, Spain from September 27 to October 8, 2006. The 2010 Women's Hockey World Cup was held in 2010 in Rosario, Argentina. Argentina won the tournament after beating Netherland 3–1. The 2014 tournament will be held in The Hague, Netherlands from June 2–14, 2014.

Results

Summaries

Year	Host		Final				Third Place
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1974	Mandelieu, France		Netherlands	1–0 in extra time	Argentina		West Germany	2–0	India
1976	Berlin, West Germany		West Germany	2–0	Argentina		Netherlands	1–0	Belgium
1978	Madrid, Spain		Netherlands	1–0	West Germany		Belgium	0–0 (3–2) Penalty strokes	Argentina
1981 Details	Buenos Aires, Argentina		West Germany	1–1 (3–1) Penalty strokes	Netherlands		Soviet Union	5–1	Australia
1983	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia		Netherlands	4–2	Canada		Australia	3–1	West Germany
1986	Amstelveen, Netherlands		Netherlands	3–0	West Germany		Canada	3–2 in extra time	New Zealand
1990	Sydney, Australia		Netherlands	3–1	Australia		Korea	3–2	England
1994	Dublin, Ireland		Australia	2–0	Argentina		United States	2–1	Germany
1998 Details	Utrecht, Netherlands		Australia	3–2	Netherlands		Germany	3–2	Argentina
2002 Details	Perth, Australia		Argentina	1–1 (4–3) Penalty strokes	Netherlands		China	2–0	Australia
2006 Details	Madrid, Spain		Netherlands	3–1	Australia		Argentina	5–0	Spain
2010 Details	Rosario, Argentina		Argentina	3–1	Netherlands		England	2–0	Germany
2014 Details	The Hague, Netherlands

Successful national teams

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place
Netherlands	6 (1974, 1978, 1983, 1986*, 1990, 2006)	4 (1981, 1998, 2002, 2010)	1 (1976)
Argentina	2 (2002, 2010*)	3 (1974, 1976, 1994)	1 (2006)	2 (1978, 1998)
Germany	2 (1976*, 1981)	2 (1978, 1986)	2 (1974, 1998)	3 (1983, 1994, 2010)
Australia	2 (1994, 1998)	2 (1990*, 2006)	1 (1983)	2 (1981, 2002*)
Canada		1 (1983)	1 (1986)
Belgium			1 (1978)	1 (1976)
England			1 (2010)	1 (1990)
China			1 (2002)
Korea			1 (1990)
Soviet Union			1 (1981)#
United States			1 (1994)
India				1 (1974)
New Zealand				1 (1986)
Spain				1 (2006*)

* = host

# = Now compete as independent country

Performance by continental zones

Continent	Best performance
Europe	8 titles, won by Netherlands (6) and Germany (2)
Americas	2 titles, won by Argentina
Oceania	2 titles, won by Australia
Asia	third place (Korea, 1990 and China, 2002)
Africa	Seventh place (South Africa, 1998)

Team appearances

Team	74	76	78	81	83	86	90	94	98	02	06	10	Total
Competitors	10	11	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	16	12	12	131
Argentina	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	12
Germany	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	12
Netherlands	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	12
Spain	X	X	X	X		X	X	X		X	X	X	10
Australia				X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	9
England					X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	8
United States					X	X	X	X	X	X	X		7
Canada			X	X	X	X	X	X					6
China							X	X	X	X	X	X	6
India	X		X		X				X		X	X	6
Japan			X	X			X			X	X	X	6
Korea							X	X	X	X	X	X	6
New Zealand					X	X	X		X	X		X	5
Belgium	X	X	X	X									4
Scotland					X	X			X	X			4
South Africa									X	X	X	X	4
Austria	X	X		X									3
France	X	X		X									3
Mexico	X	X		X									3
Soviet Union#				X	X	X							3
Ireland						X		X		X			3
Switzerland	X	X											2
Nigeria		X	X										2
Russia								X		X			2
Italy		X											1
Czech Republic			X										1
Wales					X								1
Ukraine										X			1

# no longer in existence

Argentina, Germany and Netherlands are the only teams to have competed at each World Cup; 28 teams have competed in at least one World Cup.