The Argentina women's national field hockey team (Spanish: Selección femenina de hockey sobre césped de Argentina) represents Argentina in field hockey and is controlled by the Argentine Hockey Confederation (CAH), the governing body for outdoor and indoor field hockey in Argentina. Their head coach is Emanuel Roggero and the team is currently second in the FIH World Rankings since October 2011.[3]
Las Leonas (The Lionesses) have appeared in five Hockey World Cup finals, including the first final in 1974, which they lost 1–0 to the Netherlands. Argentina had to settle with second place in two more finals before winning the tournament for the first time in 2002, beating the Netherlands 4–3 in the final on penalty strokes after a 1–1 draw. Argentina, led by seven-time FIH Player of the YearLuciana Aymar won again in 2010, a 3–1 victory over the Netherlands. Argentina's World Cup winning managers are Sergio Vigil in 2002, and Carlos Retegui in 2010.
Argentina has been very successful at the Summer Olympics, winning four consecutive medals (two silver, two bronze) since the 2000 edition, when they became the first women's team in any sport to win an Olympic medal for their country. Luciana Aymar is the only player that has participated and won those four medals.
At a continental level, Argentina has dominated and won every tournament they played leaving the United States with second place until they lost the 2011 Pan American Games final for the first time.
Argentina is known for having rivalries with the Netherlands, Australia and the United States historic occurrences with one another throughout field hockey history.
In July 2003, after the implementation of a official World Ranking System, Argentina reached the top of the FIH World Rankings for the first time, reaching it again in 2010 as the World champions.
The previous Olympic and World champions and the host nation received an automatic berth. Alongside with the five teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualification Tournament, eight teams competed in this tournament.
The previous Olympic and World champions and the host nation received an automatic berth. Alongside with the five teams qualifying through the Olympic Qualification Tournament, eight teams competed in this tournament.