Pakistan's hockey team once won everything, including the very first World Cup
In 1978 Pakistan's field hockey side became the first team ever to win three major international titles in a single year. Hockey is the country's national sport, and for three decades its Green Shirts ruled the game, collecting Olympic golds, four World Cups and a record haul of Asian Games titles.
The team was born almost with the nation. British servicemen had brought hockey to British India, and after independence in 1947 the Pakistan Hockey Federation formed in 1948. That August, at the London Olympics, a squad led by Ali Iqtidar Shah Dara played its first international and beat Belgium 2-1, going on to finish fourth. A first Olympic medal, silver, followed at Melbourne in 1956 after a narrow final defeat to India.
The breakthrough came in Rome in 1960. Pakistan won every match and beat India 1-0 in the final with a goal from Naseer Bunda, ending India's run of six straight Olympic titles. A second gold arrived in Mexico City in 1968 with a side under captain Tariq Aziz that is often called the finest hockey squad ever assembled; it won all its games and beat Australia in the final.
The first Hockey World Cup was meant to be staged in Pakistan in 1971, but political tensions led the international federation to move it to Barcelona. Pakistan won it anyway, edging India in the semi-final and Spain 1-0 in the final, with Tanvir Dar top scorer on eight goals. Through the late 1970s and 1980s the team seemed unstoppable, taking the 1982 World Cup in Mumbai and Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984. In total it has claimed three Olympic golds, four World Cups, eight Asian Games titles and 30 official international trophies.
The rivalry with India defines the team: the two have met in 15 major finals, with Pakistan winning nine. Individual records stand out too, with Waseem Ahmed earning 410 caps and Sohail Abbas scoring the second-most goals in international hockey history. Decline set in after a last World Cup win in 1994. Sydney in 2000 was the final time Pakistan played for an Olympic medal, and the side missed the 2014 and 2023 World Cups.
Source: Pakistan men's national field hockey team
