The Pakistan men's national field hockey team () represents Pakistan in international field hockey. Having played its first match in 1948, it is administered by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), the governing body for hockey in Pakistan. It has been a member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) since 1948 and was founding member of the Asian Hockey Federation (ASHF), which was formed in 1958. Pakistan is one of the most successful national field hockey teams in the world, with three gold medals in Olympic field hockey (in 1960, 1968, and 1984) and four Hockey World Cup titles (in 1971, 1978, 1982, and 1994).
Since 1948, the Pakistan national team has played in every Olympic Games except the 1980 Games and the last three editions. They have also played in every FIH World Cup except the 2014 and 2023 editions. The Green Shirts are the most successful national team in the Asian Games, with eight gold medals: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, and 2010, and the only Asian team to have won the Champions Trophy thrice: 1978, 1980 and 1994. Pakistan has also won three Hockey Asia Cups: in 1982, 1985, and 1989. In total, Pakistan has won 30 official international titles.
Field hockey is the national sport of the country. Former captain Sohail Abbas has scored the second-most international goals in the history of international field hockey. Waseem Ahmed is the most-capped player for the team, having played 410 times between 1996 and 2013.
Pakistan is known for its fierce field hockey rivalry with India, with the two teams having played each other in eight Asian Games finals. In total, they have faced each other in fifteen major tournament finals, of which Pakistan has won nine. Pakistan's other notable competitive rivalries are with Netherlands and Australia.
Pakistan's home ground is National Hockey Stadium in Lahore. The current team's head coach is Khawaja Junaid and the team manager is Farrukh Atiq Khan.
History Early history and rising team (1948–1957)
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.
Despite the limited resources available on 2 August 1948, Pakistan national team, led by Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara, officially went on to play their first international game against Belgium winning the game 2–1 at the 1948 London Olympics. Pakistan remained unbeaten during the group stage, defeating the Netherlands, Denmark and France, but ended up placing fourth overall. During the group stages Pakistan defeat of Netherlands by 6–1 was the highlight for the team.
At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Pakistan lost to Netherlands and Great Britain to again finish fourth at the event. Pakistan won their first Olympic medal in 1956 at Melbourne when they reached the final but lost to India 1–0 to earn a silver medal, first podium finish this was also Pakistan's first medal at the Olympics.
The Golden Era (1958–1984) Field hockey was included in the Asian Games for the first time in 1958 at Tokyo. 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 finishing top of the table in the round-robin format and clinched its first gold medal in an international competition.Pakistan at the Asian Games Author: Ijaz Chaudhry. Retrieved 21 September 2014. The News on Sunday
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.
In the 1962 Asian Games, Pakistan earned its second gold medal with Chaudhry Ghulam RasoolBiographical encyclopedia of Pakistan: millennium 2000, 2001, p 184, Research Institute of Historiography, Biography and Philosophy – Pakistan. as the captain leading the team to another successive award. 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. 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 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 drew 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.
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.
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 for 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 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. 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 a year later, held at the Hockey Club of Pakistan, Karachi. In the 1980s Pakistan won every international tournament it participated in including the 1982 World Cup in Mumbai and the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles where Pakistan won the gold medal defeating West Germany in the final. Pakistan also won the Asian Games and Asia Cup consecutively in this period.
Last years of prominence (1985–1994) At the 1986 World Cup in London, Pakistan performed poorly, where they won just one pool game and finished second last at 11th place. Pakistan first finished runner-up at the 1990 World Cup at home in Lahore after losing the final to Netherlands and won a bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The most glorious highlight of the decade came in 1994 when Pakistan first won the 1994 Champions Trophy at home ground, their first title in the competition after 14 years.
Decline (1995–Present)
Following a sixth place finish at the 1996 Atlanta games, the first major competition for Pakistan was the 1998 Hockey World Cup in Utrecht Pakistan finished 5th at the tournament. The following year Pakistan won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup for the first time in 1999. Pakistan finished fourth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney after losing the bronze medal match to Australia. This was the last time Pakistan played for a medal at the Olympics. Pakistan finished 5th at 2002 World Cup and Kuala Lumpur and won bronze medal at the Champions Trophy the same year. At the 2002 Asian Games Pakistan finished fourth, the first time the team didn't won a medal at the competition. In 2003 Pakistan lost the Hockey Asia Cup final to India and in 2004 Pakistan had a busy schedule where they played in many tournaments in lead up to the Olympics but Pakistan finished 5th at the 2004 Athens Olympics later in December Pakistan finished third at the 2004 Champions Trophy in Lahore, the third consecutive bronze medal. In 2005 Pakistan had a highlight when they defeated Olympic champion Australia to win the 2005 Hockey RaboTrophy in Netherlands. Pakistan finished 6th the 2006 World Cup and failed even to progress from the pool stages of the 2007 Asia Cup.