Pakistan men's national field hockey team

The first Pakistan national hockey team ever, 1948.

Originally, the game had been brought by British servicemen to British India, and like cricket it soon became a popular sport with the local population. Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, soon after the Pakistan Hockey Federation came into being in 1948. Prior to the partition of India, players playing for Pakistan competed for the Indian side. The federation soon established and organized the Provincial Hockey/Sports Associations of West Punjab, East Bengal, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Bahawalpur & Services Sports Board. On 2 August 1948, Pakistan national team, led by Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, officially went on to play their first international game and tournament against Belgium winning the game 2–0 at the 1948 London Olympics. Pakistan remained unbeaten defeating the Netherlands, Denmark and France during the group stage round and ended up placing fourth, as did the Pakistan team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

Pakistan playing against Australia, at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

For the 1958 Asian Games, Pakistan were drawn against Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and archrivals India. They beat Japan 5–0 in their first match, then followed two consecutive victories over South Korea (8–0) and Malaysia (6–0). In the last match Pakistan drew 0–0 with India and clinched its first gold medal in an international competition.[10] This success was followed by in 1960 Rome Olympics where Pakistan played against in a group with Australia, Poland and Japan, winning all the matches. Pakistan then played the quarter-final round with Germany, winning the match 2–1 and advanced to the semi-final round where they defeated Spain. Pakistan eventually won the gold medal, defeating India 1–0 with a goal by Naseer Bunda in the final round held at the Olympic Velodrome and ended India's run of six successive gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games.[11]

In the 1962 Asian Games, Pakistan earned its second gold medal with Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool[12] as the captain leading the team to another successive award.[13] However, during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics the national team ended up as runners-up for the second time after losing 1–0 to India in the final as well as finishing runners-up in the 1966 Asian Games held in Bangkok, Thailand. Pakistan won its second Olympic Games gold medal in Mexico at the 1968 Summer Olympics.[14] It fielded what has since then often been considered the best hockey squad ever led by captain Tariq Aziz with Saeed Anwar, Khalid Mahmood, Gulraiz Akhtar and Tariq Niazi. Even though Rasool had retired, this team was still a force to be reckoned with. They won all six of their games—against Kenya, Great Britain, Malaysia, Australia, France and the Netherlands during group play, and against West Germany in the knockout round. Pakistan made the final for the fourth straight Olympics, and won the gold medal, as they had in 1960, this time by defeating Australia, 2–1 with goals from Muhammad Asad Malik and Abdul Rashid. Rashid was the top scorer for Pakistan with seven goals; Tanvir Dar finished with six goals.

In 1969, President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Air Marshal Nur Khan was the first senior hockey official who had floated the idea of organizing field hockey's very own World Cup. He proposed his idea to the FIH through Patrick Rowley, the first editor of World Hockey magazine. Their idea was approved on 26 October 1969, and adopted by the FIH Council at a meeting in Brussels on 12 April 1970. The FIH decided that the inaugural World Cup would be held in October 1971, in Pakistan. Khan went on to donate the World Cup trophy and later the Champions Trophy to the International Hockey Federation.[15]

In the group stage of the 1970 Asian Games, Pakistan was competing with tournament hosts Thailand and contenders Japan for top spot and a place in the finals. In their first match of the group, Pakistan scored thrice against Japan to clinch their first win, followed by defeating Hong Kong 10–0 to go to the top of the group. The team then draw 0–0 with Thailand and progressed to the knock-out round, where they won 5–0 over Malaysia. In the final, Pakistan faced India, winning 1–0 and sealing their third Asian Games gold medal.

PHF President (1967–69, 1976–84) Air Marshal Nur Khan conceived the idea of Hockey World Cup to FIH in 1969 and founded the Champions Trophy in 1978.

In 1971, the first-ever Hockey World Cup was to be hosted by Pakistan. However, political issues would prevent that first competition from being played in Pakistan. The FIH had inadvertently scheduled the first World Cup to be played in Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Furthermore, Pakistan and India had been at war with each other only six years earlier. When Pakistan invited India to compete in the tournament, a crisis arose. Pakistanis, led by cricketer Abdul Hafeez Kardar, protested against India's participation in the Hockey World Cup. Given the intense political climate between Pakistan and India, the FIH decided to move the tournament elsewhere. In March 1971, coincidentally in the same month Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan, the FIH decided to move the first Hockey World Cup to the Real Club de Polo grounds in Barcelona, Spain, which was considered a neutral and peaceful European site.[16] On 27 March 1971, in Brussels, the trophy was formally handed to FIH President Rene Frank by H.E Masood, the Pakistani Ambassador to Belgium. A total number of 10 teams qualified for the event and were broken up into two groups. The Pakistani team was drawn in a group with hosts Spain, Australia, Japan and the Netherlands. The group was topped by Spain and Pakistan respectively, and both the teams advanced into the semi-finals. In the first semi-final of the tournament Pakistan ousted India 2–1 in a tense and closely contested game and in the second semi-final Spain played safe and defeated a spirited Kenya 1–0 to enter the finals against Pakistan. In the final Pakistan scored early but then strengthened its defense to hold out a 1–0 victory and win the first hockey World Cup, retaining its number one position in the world hockey rankings, closely followed by India and the Netherlands. Tanvir Dar finished as the top goal scorer at the tournament with eight goals.

The 1972 Munich Olympics, Pakistan lost the final to hosts West Germany losing the game 1–0 with a goal by Michael Krause and finished at fourth place, the following year, in the 1973 Hockey World Cup. The national team made a comeback in the international competition, by winning and retaining their title at the 1974 Asian Games but lost to their rivals India in the finals of the third hockey World Cup in 1975. 1976 Montreal Olympics saw the team secure their first bronze medal in the competition. The year 1978 saw Pakistan national team win three major international tournaments: the third Hockey World Cup held at Buenos Aires, Argentina along with 1978 Asian Games[17] and the first Champions Trophy. This was the first time a national team won three major titles in the history of international field hockey. In 1980, Pakistan Olympic Association, along with 65 countries, boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[18] This resulted in Pakistan hockey team not participating at the field hockey competition at the tournament. Pakistan hosted the 1980 and 1981 Champions Trophy tournaments, winning the title against West Germany in the final round in 1980 and finishing at fourth position[19] a year later, held at the Hockey Club of Pakistan, Karachi.

Pakistan playing against Argentina in 2005.

The national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

From 2004 till 2014, the team secured third positions, at the 2004 Champions Trophy held in Lahore and 2012 Champions Trophy held in Melbourne as well as a runners-up medal after losing, 2–0, to Germany at the 2014 Champions Trophy, however, it failed to win a single top position in the 2005–2011 tournaments; a runners-up medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and finishing at the sixth spot in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and won a runners-up medal at the 2004 and 2011 Sultan Azlan Shah Cups with a bronze medal in 2005. In the Asian Games, Pakistan finished with a bronze medal at the 2006 Asian Games, found its only success by winning, 2–0, against Malaysia at the 2010 Asian Games final round held in Guangzhou, China and securing a runners-up medal at the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games, Pakistan has not won a single medal at the games, while 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London have been the worst Olympics for Pakistan by far as the national team failed to win the competition and had to play for the 5th, 7th and 8th position match at the three Olympic tournaments.

The Pakistani national team most successful tournament, in recent times, has been the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy winning the trophy twice, first in 2012 against India and second in 2013 against Japan, and finishing as runners-up in the first edition of Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in 2011. The team also won gold medals consecutively at the 2006 and 2010 South Asian Games. However, Pakistan participated in the 2006 and 2010 World cups but failed to qualify past the group stage, and, for the first time in its history, the team did not gain qualification for the 2014 edition of the competition.

In the 2016 South Asian Games, Pakistan defended their gold medal after winning 2–1 against archrivals India, with both goals scored by Arslan Qadir, held in Guwahati.

• Largest win — 22–0 Nepal , (Madras, 1995 South Asian Games)
• Worst defeat — 1–9 Australia , (Festival International Hockey Melbourne, Australia, 8 November 2017)

TBD (to be determined), DNQ (did not qualify), DNP (did not participate)

World Cup[21][22]
Year	Host city	Position
1971	Barcelona, Spain	1st
1973	Amstelveen, Netherlands	4th
1975	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
1978	Buenos Aires, Argentina	1st
1982	Mumbai, India	1st
1986	London, England	11th
1990	Lahore, Pakistan	2nd
1994	Sydney, Australia	1st
1998	Utrecht, Netherlands	5th
2002	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	5th
2006	Mönchengladbach, Germany	6th
2010	New Delhi, India	12th
2014	The Hague, Netherlands	DNQ
2018	Bhubaneswar, India	12th

Champions Trophy[23]
Year	Host city	Position
1978	Lahore, Pakistan	1st
1980	Karachi, Pakistan	1st
1981	Karachi, Pakistan	4th
1982	Amstelveen, Netherlands	4th
1983	Karachi, Pakistan	2nd
1984	Karachi, Pakistan	2nd
1985	Perth, Australia	4th
1986	Karachi, Pakistan	3rd
1987	Amstelveen, Netherlands	7th
1988	Karachi, Pakistan	2nd
1989	Berlin, West Germany	4th
1990	Melbourne, Australia	4th
1991	Berlin, Germany	2nd
1992	Karachi, Pakistan	4th
1993	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4th
1994	Lahore, Pakistan	1st
1995	Berlin, Germany	3rd
1996	Madras, India	2nd
1997	Adelaide, Australia	5th
1998	Lahore, Pakistan	2nd
1999	Brisbane, Australia	6th
2000	Amstelveen, Netherlands	DNP
2001	Rotterdam, Netherlands	4th
2002	Cologne, Germany	3rd
2003	Amstelveen, Netherlands	3rd
2004	Lahore, Pakistan	3rd
2005	Chennai, India	5th
2006	Terrassa, Spain	5th
2007	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	7th
2008	Rotterdam, Netherlands	DNP
2009	Melbourne, Australia	DNP
2010	Mönchengladbach, Germany	DNP
2011	Auckland, New Zealand	7th
2012	Melbourne, Australia	3rd
2014	Bhubaneswar, India	2nd
2016	London, England	DNP
2018	Breda, Netherlands	6th

Olympic Games[24]
Year	Host city	Position
1948	London, United Kingdom	4th
1952	Helsinki, Finland	4th
1956	Melbourne, Australia	2nd
1960	Rome, Italy	1st
1964	Tokyo, Japan	2nd
1968	Mexico City, Mexico	1st
1972	Munich, West Germany	2nd
1976	Montreal, Canada	3rd
1980	Moscow, Soviet Union	DNP
1984	Los Angeles, United States	1st
1988	Seoul, South Korea	5th
1992	Barcelona, Spain	3rd
1996	Atlanta, United States	6th
2000	Sydney, Australia	4th
2004	Athens, Greece	5th
2008	Beijing, China	8th
2012	London, United Kingdom	7th
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	DNQ
2020	Tokyo, Japan	DNQ

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
Year	Host city	Position
1983	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
1985	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	3rd
1987	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
1991	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
1994	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
1995	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
1996	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
1998	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1st
1999	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
2000	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1st
2001	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4th
2003	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1st
2004	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
2005	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	3rd
2006	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	5th
2007	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	6th
2008	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4th
2009	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4th
2010	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	5th
2011	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
2012	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	7th
2013	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	6th
2014	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
2015	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
2016	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	5th
2017	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
2018	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP
2019	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	DNP

Asian Hockey Champions Trophy
Year	Host city	Position
2011	Ordos, China	2nd
2012	Doha, Qatar	1st
2013	Kakamigahara, Japan	1st
2016	Kuantan, Malaysia	2nd
2018	Muscat, Oman	1st

Asia Cup
Year	Host city	Position
1982	Karachi, Pakistan	1st
1985	Dhaka, Bangladesh	1st
1989	New Delhi, India	1st
1994	Hiroshima, Japan	3rd
1999	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
2003	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	2nd
2007	Chennai, India	6th
2009	Kuantan, Malaysia	2nd
2013	Ipoh, Malaysia	3rd
2017	Dhaka, Bangladesh	3rd

Asian Games
Year	Host city	Position
1958	Tokyo, Japan	1st
1962	Jakarta, Indonesia	1st
1966	Bangkok, Thailand	2nd
1970	Bangkok, Thailand	1st
1974	Tehran, Iran	1st
1978	Bangkok, Thailand	1st
1982	New Delhi, India	1st
1986	Seongnam, South Korea	2nd
1990	Beijing, China	1st
1994	Hiroshima, Japan	3rd
1998	Bangkok, Thailand	3rd
2002	Busan, South Korea	4th
2006	Doha, Qatar	3rd
2010	Guangzhou, China	1st
2014	Incheon, South Korea	2nd
2018	Jakarta-Palembang, Indonesia	4th

Commonwealth Games
Year	Host city	Position
1998	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	10th
2002	Manchester, England	3rd
2006	Melbourne, Australia	2nd
2010	New Delhi, India	6th
2014	Glasgow, Scotland	DNP
2018	Gold Coast, Australia	7th

South Asian Games
Year	Host city	Position
1995	Madras, India	2nd
2006	Colombo, Sri Lanka	1st
2010	Dhaka, Bangladesh	1st
2016	Guwahati, India	1st

Afro-Asian Games
Year	Host city	Position
2003	Hyderabad, India	2nd

FIH Hockey World League
Year	Host city	Position
2012–13	New Delhi, India	13th
2014–15	Raipur, India	15th
2016–17	India	14th

Squad for the 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup.[25]

Head coach: Khawaja Junaid

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club
1	GK	Imran Butt	(1988-07-16) 16 July 1988	138	PIA
3	DF	Mubashar Ali	(1997-07-06) 6 July 1997	34	Penarth
5	MF	Toseeq Arshad	(1992-02-05) 5 February 1992	114	WAPDA
6	DF	Rashid Mehmood	(1987-08-15) 15 August 1987	134	Oranje-Rood
7	FW	Muhammad Irfan Jr.	(1988-12-02) 2 December 1988	57	WAPDA
8	DF	Muhammad Irfan	(1990-04-01) 1 April 1990	208	PIA
10	MF	Ali Shan	(1993-09-25) 25 September 1993	131	SSGC
11	MF	Muhammad Rizwan Sr.INJ	(1989-12-31) 31 December 1989	154	Oranje-Rood
12	GK	Mazhar Abbas	(1993-06-05) 5 June 1993	43	NBP
13	DF	Aleem Bilal	(1992-11-01) 1 November 1992	59	WAPDA
14	MF	Muhammad Umar Bhutta	(1992-12-24) 24 December 1992	163	WAPDA
16	DF	Ammad Butt (C)	(1996-01-13) 13 January 1996	115	NBP
17	FW	Muhammad Zubair	(1988-10-12) 12 October 1988	131	PIA
18	FW	Muhammad Atiq	(1997-03-05) 5 March 1997	34	NBP
20	DF	Faisal Qadir	(1988-10-17) 17 October 1988	80	NBP
21	DF	Tasawar Abbas	(1992-06-01) 1 June 1992	104	WAPDA
22	FW	Arslan Qadir	(1990-11-02) 2 November 1990	96	NBP
23	FW	Ajaz Ahmad	(1992-06-13) 13 June 1992	67	WAPDA
27	FW	Abu Mahmood	(1998-02-10) 10 February 1998	59	NBP

Khalid Hamid

Shahbaz senior

Dilawar hussain bhatti