The 35th edition of Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament will be held at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar from December 6 to 14.
World number 1 Australia are the defending champions. They are in Pool A with Belgium, England and Pakistan. Hosts India, ranked 11th in the world are in Pool B with World number Netherlands,Germany and Argentina.
In the previous edition two years ago, Australia beat Netherlands 2-1 in the final in Melbourne. Australia made it five titles in a row in 2012 and are now bidding to extend that to six.
Founded by Pakistan’s Air Marshal Nur Khan, it features the world’s top-ranked field hockey teams competing in a round robin format. The Pakistan Hockey Federation started the competition as an annual men’s tournament in 1978.
The Champions Trophy was changed into a biennial event from the 2014 editions onward, due to the introduction of the Hockey World League.
In the men’s tournament, the Australians have won the trophy thirteen, the Germans nine, and the Dutch eight times. Pakistan is the only Asian champion, with three titles to its name including the first two in 1978 and 1980.
Since the 2011 edition, eight teams have qualified for the championship. The first edition had five teams, the second had seven, 1987 had eight, and all other editions through 2010 had six except 2007. In the year following the Olympics or a World Cup, the participating teams include the host, the defending champion, the world champion and the next highest ranked teams from either the most recent World Cup or Olympic Games.
This is the fifth time that the Champions Trophy will have eight teams in the fray- after 1987,2007,2011 and 2012.
India have hosted the Champions Trophy twice before, at Chennai in 1995 and 2005. Bhubaneswar will only be the second Indian city to host the tournament. Pakistan have hosted the Champions Trophy for record 11 times, including first three editions.
Taeke Taekema holds the record of scoring the highest number of goals in Champions Trophy. The Dutch bomber scored 48 goals followed by De Nooijer woth 43. Pakistan’s drug-flicker Sohail Abbas is the third with 41 goals.
PERFORMANCE OF EACH TEAM IN CHAMPIONS TROPHY:
Team Champions Runners-up Third
Australia 13 10 4
Germany 9 7 6
Netherlands 8 6 8
Pakistan 3 6 7
Spain 1 2 3
England – 2 2
South Korea – 1 2
India – – 1
Argentina – – 1