1973 Men's Hockey World Cup

The 1973 Men's Hockey World Cup was the second installment of the Hockey World Cup.[1] It was held from 24 August to 2 September at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands. The host nation, the Netherlands, became champions, defeating India 4–2 on penalty strokes after the final had finished 2–2.[2] It was the first World Cup to introduce the 12 teams format which became the standard format of the FIH Hockey World Cup until the 1998 edition.

1973 Hockey World Cup
Wereldkampioenschap hockey mannen 1973 (Dutch)
Tournament details
Host countryNetherlands
CityAmstelveen
Dates24 August – 2 September 1973
Teams12 (from 5 confederations)
VenueWagener Stadium
Final positions
Champions Netherlands (1st title)
Runner-up India
Third place West Germany
Tournament statistics
Matches played42
Goals scored124 (2.95 per match)
Top scorerNetherlands Ties Kruize (11 goals)
Best playerIndia Surjit Singh
1971 (previous) (next) 1975

Teams

edit
Dates Event Location Quotas Qualifiers
27 August – 10 September 1972 1972 Summer Olympics Munich, West Germany 7  West Germany
 Netherlands
 England
 Pakistan
 India
 Australia[a]
 Kenya
 Argentina
18 March 1973 Appointed by the FIH Brussels, Belgium 5  Spain
 Malaysia
 Belgium
 Japan
 New Zealand
Total 12

The top eight teams from last year's Summer Olympics in Munich qualified automatically: England qualified in place of Great Britain from the Olympics spot as most of the players from that squad were from England, and England had a better record among the Home Nations.

Australia, despite qualifying through the Olympics, withdrew because of lack of funds. Originally, four teams were to be invited for the World Cup, but after the withdrawal of Australia this was increased to five. Spain, Malaysia, Belgium and Japan were all invited by the FIH for the event, while New Zealand was invited to replace Australia.

Other nations who showed interest in competing were Canada, France, Gibraltar, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Rhodesia, South Africa, and the Soviet Union.

Group stage

edit

Pool A

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  West Germany 5 4 1 0 6 2 +4 13 Semifinals
2  India 5 3 2 0 12 1 +11 11
3  Spain 5 3 0 2 9 5 +4 9
4  New Zealand 5 1 2 2 13 8 +5 5
5  Kenya 5 0 2 3 6 14 8 2
6  Japan 5 0 1 4 3 19 16 1
Source: FIH

Matchday 1

Matchday 2

Matchday 3

Matchday 4

Matchday 5


Pool B

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Pakistan 5 4 1 0 16 5 +11 13 Semifinals
2  Netherlands (H) 5 3 1 1 11 4 +7 10
3  Belgium 5 2 0 3 8 12 4 6
4  England 5 1 2 2 9 8 +1 5
5  Malaysia 5 1 1 3 5 13 8 4
6  Argentina 5 0 3 2 2 9 7 3
Source: FIH
(H) Hosts

Matchday 1

Matchday 2

Matchday 3

Matchday 4

Matchday 5


Classification round

edit

Ninth to twelfth place classification

edit
 
9th-12th-place semifinalsNinth-place game
 
      
 
31 August
 
 
 Kenya0
 
1 September
 
 Argentina2
 
 Argentina1
 
31 August
 
 Japan0
 
 Malaysia0
 
 
 Japan1
 
Eleventh-place game
 
 
1 September
 
 
 Malaysia1
 
 
 Kenya0

Ninth to twelfth bracket

edit

Eleventh and twelfth place - 11th/12th

edit

Ninth and tenth place - 9th/10th

edit

Fifth to eighth place classification

edit
 
5th–8th-place semifinalsFifth-place game
 
      
 
31 August
 
 
 England (a.e.t.)1
 
1 September
 
 New Zealand0
 
 Spain3
 
31 August
 
 England0
 
 Spain5
 
 
 Belgium0
 
Seventh-place game
 
 
2 September
 
 
 New Zealand3
 
 
 Belgium1

Fifth to eighth bracket

edit

Seventh and eighth place - 7th/8th

edit

Fifth and sixth place - 5th/6th

edit

Semi-finals

edit
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
31 August
 
 
 Netherlands (p.s.o.)0 (4)
 
2 September
 
 West Germany 0 (2)
 
 Netherlands (p.s.o.)2 (4)
 
31 August
 
 India2 (2)
 
 India1
 
 
 Pakistan0
 
Third place
 
 
2 September
 
 
 West Germany1
 
 
 Pakistan0

Third and fourth place - 3rd/4th

edit

Final

edit
Nico Spits and Ties Kruize (right) with the World Cup

The final was held on 2 September 1973 at the Wagener Stadium, Amstelveen. The hosts Netherlands defeated India on penalty strokes after the match ended 2–2 after extra time. The win gave Netherlands their first FIH Hockey World Cup title, becoming the second team to win it and the first from Europe and the first host nation to win it.

Surjit Singh of India scored two early goals in the first eight minutes giving India a 2–0 lead. He scored another goal in the first half for his hat-trick but it was disallowed by the umpire. India went into half time with two goals lead. In the second half Netherlands played more players forward and in result Ties Kruize scored two goals to equalize the match at 2–2. In extra time, India got a penalty stroke but B. P. Govinda missed the chance in sudden death. The match was decided by penalty strokes where the Indian goalkeeper Charles Cornelius failed to stop a single penalty stroke as Netherlands won the shoot out 4–2.[3]

 1973 Hockey World Cup winner 

Netherlands
First title

Final ranking

edit
RankTeam
 Netherlands
 India
 West Germany
4  Pakistan
5  Spain
6  England
7  New Zealand
8  Belgium
9  Argentina
10  Japan
11  Malaysia
12  Kenya

Notes

edit
  1. Australia withdrew because of a lack of funds, they were replaced by New Zealand.

References

edit
  1. "Home | FIH". www.fih.ch. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  2. "Brian Lewis. "Hockey." Times [London, England] 3 Sept. 1973". the Times.
  3. Ganesh, M. P. "1973: We had the best ever combination". Sportstar. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
edit