Germany’s men and the Netherlands’ women got their FIH Hockey World Cup title defence off to the perfect start with opening day victories as the tournament kicked off across two host venues – in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The German men raced into a three-goal lead in the opening eight minutes of their match against Malaysia after Jakob Brilla scored from a penalty corner in the fourth minute, Christopher Ruhr added a field goal in the fifth, and Justus Weigand finished off a great team effort in the eighth.

The Malaysians did well to contain the Germans in the second quarter, which remained goalless. They then pulled one back through Abu Kamal Azrai in the 40th minute. But Germany regained their three-goal lead just before the final break thanks to a well-timed deflection from Justus Warweg and Paul-Philipp Kaufmann tapped in a fifth in the final quarter to wrap up the 5-1 win.

Meanwhile, the Dutch women were given a stern test by Chile in their opening match but ultimately prevailed 2-0.

It took the hosts until the 21st minute to break the deadlock, with Marijn Veen getting the perfect deflection on a Yibbi Jansen pass to put the Netherlands ahead. Jansen doubled their lead from a penalty corner in the 35th minute, but the Dutch attack was made to work for every opportunity as Chile, led by a superb performance from goalkeeper Natalia Salvador, put up a resolute defensive display.

Marijn Veen was named Player of the Match and said afterwards: “It’s so amazing to play a World Cup in your own home city and in your own country. We are very grateful and proud and love all the orange people.”

It was another massive defensive effort that saw the United States women pull off a brave draw against 2022 FIH Hockey World Cup silver medallists Argentina. Brisa Bruggesser put Las Leonas in front in the 11th minute before Emma DeBerdine found the equaliser just before the half-time break. The Americans then produced an impressive defensive display to hold on for the 1-1 draw and the all-important point.

Earlier, in the first match of the tournament, Japan’s women did well to keep the Australians out for much of the first half of their encounter in Amsterdam. But the first goal of the FIH Hockey World Cup eventually came courtesy of an Australian penalty corner, with Claire Colwill dragging in the opener in the 27th minute. Colwill plugged in a second from Australia’s fifth penalty corner of the match in the 51st minute – again dragging the ball into the bottom right corner to seal a 2-0 victory.

Colwill was named Player of the Match and said afterwards: “It’s a great start and I think to be the first game of the whole tournament is really exciting too, so hopefully the crowd liked it and got around us.”

The first men’s match of the tournament saw India celebrating their Independence Day with a 3-1 win against Wales in Jacob Draper’s 100th match for the Welsh. India’s first goal came from a penalty corner with Sanjay’s flick squeezing through the keeper’s legs in the eighth minute.

Harmanpreet Singh added his name to the scoresheet three minutes later from a perfectly executed penalty corner. And the prolific veteran completed his brace with another excellently taken penalty corner in the third quarter. Sam Welsh pulled one back for Wales in the 56th minute, but it was not enough to deny the Indians a confident 3-1 win.

Harmanpreet was named Player of the Match and said: “I think we started very well and I’m very happy with one of our youngsters scoring a goal with a drag flick and as a team we managed the ball very well.”

In other results on Saturday, men’s world number one and former champions Belgium were made to fight exceptionally hard for their 3-2 win in an action-packed clash against neighbours France, while England’s men claimed a comprehensive 4-1 win over Pakistan and Germany’s women secured a 3-0 victory over Scotland.

15 August 2026 Results

Women

Result: Match 1 (W)

Australia 2 - 0 Japan (Pool A)

Player of the match: Claire Colwill (AUS)

Umpires: Irene Presenqui (ARG), Yoon Seon Kim (KOR), Alison Keogh (IRE-video)

Result: Match 2 (W)

Germany 3 - 0 Scotland (Pool B)

Player of the match: Yani Zhong (GER)

Umpires: Kristy Robertson (AUS), Wanri Venter (RSA), Rachel Williams (ENG-video)

Result: Match 3 (W)

Netherlands 2 - 0 Chile (Pool A)

Player of the match: Marijn Veen (NED)

Umpires: Magali Sergeant (BEL), Amber Church (NZL), Ayanna McClean (TTO-video)

Result: Match 4 (W)

Argentina 1 - 1 USA (Pool B)

Player of the match: Claire Danahy (USA)

Umpires: Sarah Wilson (SCO), Xiaoying Liu (CHN), Gareth Greenfield (NZL-video)

Men

Result: Match 1 (M)

India 3 - 1 Wales (Pool D)

Player of the match: Harmanpreet Singh (IND)

Umpires: Sean Rapaport (RSA), Zeke Newman (AUS), Sean Edwards (ENG-video)

Result: Match 2 (M)

Germany 5 - 1 Malaysia (Pool B)

Player of the match: Michel Struthoff (GER)

Umpires: Tyler Klenk (CAN), Hyosik You (KOR), Hannah Harrison (ENG-video)

Result: Match 3 (M)

England 4 - 1 Pakistan (Pool D)

Player of the match: Tom Sorsby (ENG)

Umpires: Jonas van’t Hek (NED), Darren Hubach (RSA), Steve Rogers (AUS-video)

Result: Match 4 (M)

Belgium 3 - 2 France (Pool B)

Player of the match: Victor Foubert (BEL)

Umpires: Dan Barstow (ENG), Michiel Otten (NED), Coen van Bunge (NED-video)