FIH Men's Hockey World Cup: Five biggest wins in tournament history

Some of these records were created in the early stages of the tournament.

Australia have been dominating World Hockey for the past few decades producing great talents throughout. The Kookaburra were the Hockey World Cup favourites in the 2018 edition, but finished in the third spot and also couldn't win the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They will now bounce back very strongly which has been evident in the past and are one of the few teams to play aggressively.

Pakistan, on the other hand, were at their best till the early 1990s after which its dominance started to fall. Till the early 1990s, Pakistan won four World Cup titles but is struggling to even qualify for the World Cup now.

6. Netherlands 8-0 Italy, 1978 World Cup 

The Netherlands won their opening encounter in dominating style defeating Italy (8-0). The only encounter they lost in the group stages was against Pakistan and then lost to the same opposition in the final to finish runner-up. Paul Litjens scored 15 goals, the most in a single edition of the men’s World Cup, which was instrumental in their second-place finish.

5. Australia 9-0 Ghana, 1975 World Cup

In the opening encounter of group B, Australia decimated the African nation scoring nine goals with Walter scoring a hat trick. Overall there were six different goalscorers for Australia and Ghana had no answers to their attacking prowess.

Africa during the early stages of the World Cup had good representation with Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa qualifying. Kenya went on to finish fourth losing to India in the inaugural edition of the men’s World Cup.

4. Pakistan 9-0 Ireland, 1978 World Cup

Pakistan were unstoppable in the fourth edition of the men’s World Cup scoring goals for fun against all opposition they played against. They opened their account against Ireland scoring nine times and continued the same defeating Italy (7-0), Netherlands (3-1), Malaysia (3-0), and Argentina (5-0) in the group stages. Pakistan comfortably won their second men’s World Cup title defeating the Netherlands.

3. Pakistan 12-3 New Zealand, 1982 World Cup

Pakistan defeated New Zealand by one of the biggest margins in the history of the men’s World Cup. Like the previous edition, Pakistan were the firm favourite and they lived up to the expectations winning the trophy for the second consecutive time and third overall. Apart from decimating New Zealand, Pakistan beat Argentina (6-0), Spain (4-1), West Germany (5-3), and Poland (4-1) in the group stages.

2. Australia 12-0 South Africa, 2010 World Cup

The top two biggest wins in the history of the men’s World Cup have come in the 21st century and especially in the 2010s with Australia taking over the mantle from Pakistan, who were dominating till the 1990s. The men in yellow started the 2010 edition on a poor note losing to England but came back strongly first defeating India (5-2) and then South Africa (12-0).

Since their loss to England, they never looked back and went on to win the World Cup defeating Germany. Doerner scored five goals and was close to scoring two hattricks in the same match.

1. Netherlands 14-0 Chile, 2023 World Cup

Eight different players scored for the Netherlands with Jip Janssen scoring four goals and Thierry Brinkman netting a hat-trick as Netherlands rewrote the Hockey World Cup record books. Their 14-0 win is now the biggest-ever win in the Men's Hockey World Cup.

Chile, who were making their World Cup debut, had no answer to the onslaught by the Oranje at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.

Koen Bijen scored a double while Derck De Vilder, Thijs Van Dam, Terrance Pieters, Justen Blok and Teun Beins scored a goal each en route to scripting history.

**Article last updated on January 19, 2023