Who are the top scorers at every Men's Hockey World Cup so far?

These players have marked their names on the biggest stage.

Few players start as favourites in becoming the top scorers in respective editions and this starts even before the Hockey World Cups begin. Pakistan, Netherlands, and Australia have dominated the scoring charts in the 14 editions with the Netherlands producing quality drag flickers and forwards before the 2000s. After the 2000s Australia has become a force to reckon with. Here are the top scorers from every Men's Hockey World Cup so far.

1971 World Cup Barcelona, Spain: Tanvir Dar (8)

Tanvir Dar scored the most number of goals in the inaugural edition of the men’s world cup which was one of the reasons for Pakistan winning the title. Tanvir was a penalty-corner specialist playing in the fullback position. Along with winning the world cup, he was also part of  the gold medal-winning team (1968 Olympics and 1970 Asian Games).

1973 World Cup Amstelveen, Netherlands: Ties Kruize (9)

Ties Kruize from the Netherlands was the highest goalscorer with nine goals. In a career spanning close to two decades, Kruize has represented his country 202 times and has scored 167 goals. He was a penalty corner specialist and played club hockey for HC Klien Switserland. The Netherlands went on to win the world cup defeating India.

1975 World Cup Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Ties Kruiez, Manzoor-ul-Hassan, and Stefan Otulakowski (7)

Ties Kruiez made his presence felt in the scoring list but couldn't finish on the podium. Stefan Otulakowski to date is the only Polish to top score in all 14 editions of the World Cup. 

1978 World Cup Buenos Aires, Argentina: Paul Litjens (15)

Paul Litjens led the Netherlands to the finals of the 1978 edition and lost narrowly in the finals to Pakistan (2-3). Litjens turned out to be a star scoring 15 goals and is the highest goal scorer from Europe scoring 268 goals from 177 matches. He was also the top goals scorer in the 1976 Olympic Games.

1982 World Cup Bombay, India: Rajinder Singh and Kaleemullah Khan (12)

Rajinder Singh along with Pakistan’s Kaleemullah Khan were the joint top scorers in the 1982 edition. Rajinder guided India to a fifth-place finish with Pakistan winning the second consecutive World Cup and third overall.

1986 World Cup London, England: Ric Charlesworth (6)

Ric Charlesworth scored six goals which guided Australia to the maiden World Cup title in the 1986 edition. Apart from winning the World Cup, he was part of the 1976 silver-medal-winning Olympics team and two bronze-medal-winning World Cup squads.

1990 World Cup Lahore, Pakistan: Bovelandar (9)

Bovelandar in his playing days was a devastating penalty corner specialist and was part of three Olympic squads. The Netherlands went on to win the 1990 World Cup which was held for the first time in Pakistan. The star scored 215 goals in 241 international appearances.

1994 World Cup Sydney, Australia: Taco van den Honart (10)

Honart scored ten goals leading the Netherlands to the finals and losing to Pakistan. The Dutch were on course to win successive editions but lost to the green machine in the penalty shootouts in a close battle. Overall the attacker has represented the Dutch national side 225 times scoring 118 goals.

1998 World Cup Utrecht, Netherlands: Jay Stacy (12)

Jay Stacy was unfortunate as Australia couldn't finish on the podium losing in the bronze medal playoffs match. Stacy was part of three Olympic teams winning ( 1992-silver, 1996-bronze, and 2000-bronze) medals in all the Games but couldn't medal in any of the World Cups he took part in.

2002 World Cup Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Jorge Lombi and Sohail Abbas (10)

This was the first time since 1971 an Argentinian finished in the top spot of the goal scorers list. Argentina finished sixth while Pakistan finished in the fifth spot. Sohail Abbas is a renowned hockey player who has scored 348 goals in 311 games for Pakistan.

2006 World Cup Monchengladbach, Germany: Taeke Taekwma (11)

The Dutch international scored 11 goals with the Netherlands finishing tamely in the seventh position. He was the top scorer in the next edition as well becoming the second player to top score in consecutive editions. He represented the Netherlands on 242 occasions scoring 212 times.

2010 World Cup New Delhi, India: Luke Doerner and Taeke Taekwma (10)

Luke Doerner was an important member of the Australian team in the 2006 and 2010 editions where Australia won the silver and gold medals respectively. He also won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

2014 World Cup The Hague, Netherlands: Gonzalo Peillet (14)

Peillat had a stellar run in the 2014 edition helping Argentina finish on the podium (third spot). He represented Argentina from 2011-2019 with 153 caps and scoring 173 times. In the 2023 edition, Peillat will be representing Germany after shifting bases from Argentina in 2022.

2018 World Cup Odisha, India: Blake Govers (7) and Alexander Hendrickx (7)

Alexander Hendrickx guided Belgium to the first World Cup title scoring seven goals with Australia the tournament favourites finishing in the third spot. Both players will be playing the Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 edition and shall be the favourites to top the scoring charts.