Most goals scored by one team in Men's Hockey World Cup match

The 2023 edition of the quadrennial mega event saw the record broken.

The Netherlands routed their South American opponents Chile 14-0 to post the record of a win by the largest goals margin in the history of the Hockey World Cup. They replaced Australia's 12-0 demolition of South Africa back in the 2010 World Cup. 

Most of the teams that qualify for the World Cup are selected through qualifiers. And so one would expect the teams to be the best of the rest. But even then, the gulf between the quality of Netherlands and Chile, which is in 14th place is huge. This piques the curiosity to find out which teams scored the most goals in a Men's Hockey World Cup match. 

Pakistan 9-0 Ireland (1978)

The world champions stamped their authority in the fifth rendition of the quadrennial championship with a 9-0 destruction of Ireland. 

Kaleemullah Khan, the man with a golden touch, ended up as the top scorer of the tournament for Pakistan. Pakistan's goals drubbing of Ireland was closely matched by their 7-0 victory over Italy in the same Hockey World Cup.

Australia 11-0 China (2018)

Australia makes their one of the two inclusions in the list for their rampage over debutants China. This game also broke Pakistan's record of the longest winning streak. The match happened at the same venue Netherlands played against Chile.

Forward Blake Gover completed a first-half hat trick as Tim Brand, Flynn Oglivie, Jake Whetton, Aran Zalewsky, and others took turns to feast on China's defence. 

Australia 12-0 South Africa (2010)

The landslide victory featured the second widest margin in a World Cup match as eventual champions, Australia outclassed South Africa. 

World No. 2 Glenn Turner and veteran Jamie Dwyer scored two field goals, and Luke Doerner converted four penalty corners and became the tournament's top scorer. 

Australia gained control of the game after some early hitches with swift forays and rapid counterattacks, scoring goals at will (five in the first half and seven after the change of ends) to send a warning signal to opposing teams.

Pakistan 12-3 New Zealand (1982)

Back when Pakistan was the undisputed ruler of the sport, they ran riot against New Zealand in the 1982 World Cup. 

Pakistan won all five of their games and scored a combined 31 goals in the group stage so New Zealand was not the only victim. But they were the worst affected as Pakistan won the whole thing without losing a single game. 

Netherlands 14-0 Chile (2023)

On Thursday, the three-time champion Netherlands annihilated Chile by a record-breaking 14-0 to qualify as the first team to the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup quarterfinals. The Netherlands finished first in Pool C with a maximum of nine points after racking up three victories in a row. While the first half ended at 5-0, still indicating a woeful evening, the second half blew the game completely out of the water.

Jip Janssen completed his hat trick in the first half itself and team captain Thierry Brinkman scored later. Koen Bijen added two more goals in the 40th and 45th minutes. 

The other Dutch goal scorers were Derck de Vilder (22nd), Thijs van Dam (23rd), Terrance Pieters (37th), Justen Blok (42), and Teun Beins (48th).