30 Apr, 2025 With the countdown to the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 ticking steadily, the USA’s women’s and men’s national hockey teams took important strides earlier this year at the FIH Hockey Nations Cup and FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2, respectively — showcasing emerging talents, building depth, and sharpening their long-term ambitions. At the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup in Santiago, Chile, the USA women’s team, under the guidance of Head Coach David Passmore, gained valuable experience despite a challenging competition where they finished fourth overall, narrowly missing out on a medal following a 2-1 loss to the hosts in the bronze medal match against hosts Chile. For Passmore, however, the tournament was always about more than immediate results. “This was a perfect opportunity to think longer term,” he said during the event. “We have a strong blend — experienced Olympians and exciting young players — and it’s vital to see how they cope under pressure. LA28 is very much a focus already. If you ignore it, it will come back to bite you later.” Passmore emphasized that with Paris 2024 experience and proof of concept, the team could afford to broaden its horizons — managing veteran players carefully while giving rising stars the opportunity to step up. “This is about building the right mental and physical readiness for the challenge of hosting the Games,” he added. One of the young players embracing that mission is Maddie Zimmer, who spoke about the team’s excitement and camaraderie during the Nations Cup campaign. “This is definitely the first step in a long journey towards LA,” Zimmer said. “It’s really special to know we’ll get to share the Olympics with the hockey world on home soil. We’re all motivated, and events like this help us build connections on and off the field.” Zimmer reflected a sentiment shared across the squad — that while the road to LA28 is long, the foundation is being laid now, through every match and every experience. Meanwhile, at the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup 2 in Muscat, Oman, the USA men’s team, led by Head Coach Allan Law, also made important strides, eventually finishing fourth after a strong campaign that included a semi-final appearance, finishing just shy of a podium place, after a shootout loss in the bronze medal match. “Our focus is on building our program, with LA as a real marker,” Law said after the tournament. “But it’s also about sustainability — making sure the USA is consistently competing in the top 15 globally, not just peaking for one Olympics.” Allan noted the resilience the team showed, even when facing defensive challenges from opponents like Egypt, Austria and eventual champions Scotland. “These experiences are part of the learning process. It’s about more than one tournament — it’s about preparing ourselves for the pressures and opportunities of playing at an Olympics on home ground.” With clear ambitions, growing depth, and a united sense of purpose, both the USA men’s and women’s teams are steadily building toward what promises to be a historic moment for American hockey at LA28. Source: FIH.hockey

02 Mar, 2025 New Zealand claimed the Nations Cup title after a thrilling 1-1 draw against Ireland, securing victory in a 4-2 shootout. Chile won bronze with a hard-fought 2-1 win over the USA. Scotland finished 5th after a strong 2-0 win over Japan, while Korea defeated Canada 2-0 to avoid last place. Korea 2-0 Canada In the battle for 7th place, Korea took on The Canadian Wolfpack in the first match of the day. To begin the game, the Canadians looked the most threatening they have been all tournament, pouring on the pressure and creating circle entries. The Wolfpack seemed to be energized by the possibility of relegation and their veteran defender Kathleen Leahy reaching 100 caps. Korea increased their intensity in the second quarter, they had a shot on goal denied by the post, and finally a goal just before half time by Dabin Jeong who fired a low hard shot through the Canadian keeper’s legs. Korea then finished another penalty corner in the 34th minute by Seungae Park to put them ahead by two goals. The Canadians had hope at the end of the third quarter when a long video referral decision landed them a penalty corner. Thora Rae was able to pop the ball into the net past the Korean keeper. Unfortunately, the goal was called back, leaving Canada with zero goals, and Korea taking 7th place with a 2-0 win. Player of the match Seungae Park shared some thoughts post-game: “We lost four matches, but this is the last match and we won so I am happy!”. ©FIH/WorldSportPics Japan 0-2 Scotland Japan took on Scotland for the battle for 5th place in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup. The last time these two sides faced off was nine years ago. As both teams were relatively unfamiliar with their opponents, neither team wanted to give up too much in the first half. The main highlight came from Japan, when Kaneko broke free on a counterattack and was face to face with Jessica Buchannan, the Scotland keeper. Kaneko’s speed was too much as she lost control of the ball as it rolled over the baseline. After six penalty corner attempts, Scotland opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, with a hard shot from the top of the circle from Amy Costello. Scotland furthered their lead as Ellie Mackenzie ran end to end, she drove the ball hard into the circle where Fiona Burnet received the ball, tuned, and smashed it low and hard past the Japanese keeper. With this win, Scotland place 5th in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup. The Scottish team are happy with their 5th place finish in their first appearance in the Nations Cup as Rebecca Birch describes: “We learned just to trust our game plan and to trust each other on the ball and working off the ball. We really made that a big impact and things happened, and it all worked out!” ©FIH/WorldSportPics Chile 2-1 USA The bronze medal match brought together two teams who faced each other just days ago. It was a tightly contested first half between Chile and USA, with Las Diablas opening the scoring in the second quarter. It was a frustrating half for the Americans, as they had plenty of chances, yet they could not find the back of the net. Finally in the fourth quarter the USA squeezed one by the experienced Chilean keeper, with a quick reverse shot by Sanne Caarls in the 51st minute. Chile quickly responded with high pressure and caught the American defenders off guard deep in their own circle. Fernanda Arrieta managed to poach the ball off an American defender just inches from the goal line, and pop it into the net. Despite receiving two yellow cards in the last six minutes of play, the home team was able to hold on to their lead to win the bronze medal on home soil. Fernanda Flores (CHI) shared some thoughts on Las Diablas’ tournament overall: “It was not easy because we really dreamed of the Pro League and top ten. But we are very proud of the team and the staff, we have a full change of staff since last year. It’s not easy but we are moving in the right direction.” ©FIH/WorldSportPics New Zealand 1-1 (4-2) Ireland The much-anticipated gold match between New Zealand and Ireland was a back-and-forth battle. Both teams understanding the stakes of the match left it all out on the pitch. Even Lucianna Aymar, record 8 -time winner of the FIH Player of the Year, was in attendance for the match. The Black Sticks opened the scoring in the first quarter with Emila Surridge scoring in the 6th minute. The remaining quarters were fairly even, with both teams sharing possession. The Green Army pulled their goalie with six minutes remaining in the match. This proved to be successful as Kathryn Mullan fired a shot past The Black Sticks keeper to tie up the match 1-1. Regulation time ended in a draw, forcing the match to a shootout. New Zealand proved to be more clinical in the shootout, winning 4-2 and taking home the gold medal in the Nations Cup! Holly Pearson (NZL) earned player of the match and shared some thoughts post-match: “Obviously during the match we were up 1-0 for majority of the game. But in the second half Ireland really put us under the pump and scoring that goal was tough for us. But yeah, very happy to get the win in the shootout. It’s something we have been practicing for a long time”. To see the final standings in the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup click here FIH Women’s Nations Cup – 3 February 2025 Centro Deportivo de Hockey Césped, Estadio Nacional, Santiago Chile Korea 2-0 Canada Player of the match: Seungae Park (KOR) Officials: Steven Bakker (NED), Melissa Taylor (RSA), Zoe Hall (ENG – video) Japan 0-2 Scotland Player of the match: Charlotte Watson (SCO) Officials: Victoria Pazos (PAR), Federico Silva

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24 Feb, 2025 The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to announce that the third edition of the FIH Hockey Nations Cup (men) will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 15-21 June 2025. The tournament involves the following eight participating teams, with the winners qualifying for the 2025-26 FIH Hockey Pro League: France Japan Korea Malaysia New Zealand Pakistan South Africa Wales This line-up is particularly impressive, with all teams but Pakistan having participated in the last FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup in 2023. Commenting on the announcement, Subahan bin Kamal, the president of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation said: “The Malaysian Hockey Confederation is delighted and privileged to host the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2024-25 in Kuala Lumpur. We are grateful to FIH in entrusting us to host this amazing event for the very first time. We are excited and believe this tournament will definitely bring the best of world hockey talents to Malaysia. We would also like to thank our Honourable Sports Minister Ms Hannah Yeoh in supporting our effort in hosting this event.” FIH President Tayyab Ikram added: “It’s a true delight to go back to Malaysia with one of our major events. Our hosts have always been wonderful hockey tournament organisers and the same will prevail again for this Men’s Nations Cup that will qualify the winners for the next edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League! On behalf of FIH, I’d like to extend our sincerest gratitude to our Malaysian friends. I already wish everyone, and first and foremost the athletes, to make the most of this experience to grow, and reach the next level!”. The FIH Hockey Nations Cup was launched in 2021 with the aim of offering a top-level competition to the best-ranked teams not participating in the FIH Hockey Pro League and giving the winning team the option to be promoted to the FIH Hockey Pro League the next season, precisely. The first two editions were played in Potchefstroom, South Africa (2022) and Gniezno, Poland (2024). The inaugural Nations Cup (men) was won by South Africa, the following one by New Zealand. All information about the FIH Hockey Nations Cup is available here.

23 Feb, 2025 A stellar offensive and defensive effort from Scotland in the final against Egypt saw them come away with a 4-2 win to claim the inaugural FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 title and the promotion to the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2026. Earlier in the day, Poland edged past USA in the shoot-outs following an engaging 2-2 draw in the regulation time, to win the bronze medal. Austria and Chile were also winner in the classification matches over China and Oman in the 5/6th place match and the 7/8th place matches respectively. 7/8 Place: Oman 1 – 2 Chile The 7/8 place classification game started with an early goal from Chile as a shot from Kay Gesswein took an unfortunate deflection off Al Shaaibi and went past the wrong footed keeper. The game was played in an end-to-end fashion with Chile holding more possession, but Oman created some good chances, including two penalty corners, and went close from both of them, but could not find the target. Chile almost doubled their lead on the stroke of halftime but Felipe Richard’s shot hit the post and went wide with Chile taking a 1-0 lead into the break. Oman continued to improve as the game went on and their work in the third quarter was rewarded as a string of penalty corners finally helped them open the scoring as captain, and centurion on the day, Khalid Al Shaaibi injected the ball on the set piece got to the near post and deflected the shot in, to mark his milestone with a goal. It was Chile however who got the winner as an attempted clearance by the Oman defence fell to Alvaro Garcia, who did well to bring the ball under his control and smash a shot past the keeper to earn Chile a win in their final match at the event. Juan Amoroso was awarded player of the match and said: “That was a tough match in the hot conditions against the home side that played with so much energy. In the end it was good to get those two goals and end the tournament with a win.” 5/6 Place: China 1 – 3 Austria The first half was a tale of Chinese dominance and two penalty corners. The first one was scored by China in the opening quarter through Gao Jiesheng. The goal was the only conversion by China from their 7 penalty corners in the opening half. Austria’s equaliser also came from a penalty corner in a dramatic fashion. They won the set piece with 2 seconds left on the clock and while their initial attempt was stopped on the line, China stopped playing while the ball was still inside the circle, and a sharp steal by Austria led to Moritz Frey steering the ball into an empty goal while the Chinese defence stood shell shocked. Austria used the momentum from their late equaliser in the first half to make a much better start to the second. Their early pressure paid off with Moritz Frey receiving a long aerial in the Chinese circle and getting a powerful reverse shot on target beyond the keeper to give the Red Capricorns the lead. As China threw more and more player into attack in search of the equaliser, Austria scored a third from a counter attack with Josef Winkler and Nikolas Wellan playing one-twos around the keeper, leaving Wellan with an empty goal to tap the ball into. Moritz Frey was awarded player of the match for his two goals that helped Austria get the win and get the 5th place in the competition. Bronze: USA 2 – 2 Poland (Shoot-out: USA 1-3 Poland) Two evenly matched sides in USA and Poland produced fantastic hockey in the opening quarter, but a grave error from Mendoza on the edge of the USA circle, as he tried to play a no-look pass to his teammate led to the opening goal for Poland. The attempted pass went straight to the waiting stick of Koperski, who took one step and buried a powerful shot from the top of the circle into the corner of the goal. That goal remained the only one to be scored in the opening half. USA started slow in the second half with the Polish side in the ascendancy. The second goal of the game also went Poland’s way after Koperski’s flick was stopped on the goal-line by the post defender’s foot and led to a penalty stroke, which was dispatched with ease by Gracjan Jarzyński who doubled the European side’s lead in the bronze medal match. USA were back level by the end of the third quarter with Aki Kaeppelar scoring from a penalty stroke and Mehtab Grewal putting the finishing touches to a great move from the left flank by Pat Harris and Charasika. With no goals coming in the final quarter despite USA’s dominance, the match headed into the shoot-outs to determine the outcome. Polish keeper Mateusz Popiołkowski was the star of the show in the shoot-outs as he stopped USA on three of their four attempts, while Poland strikers converted all three of their attempts as Poland came away winners, to become the bronze medalists at the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 Oman 2025. Final: Egypt 2 – 4 Scotland Egypt made the brighter start and kept prodding the Scottish defence, but the European side stood firm and opened the scoring from an incredibly difficult opportunity as Struan Walker received the ball on the left side of the Egyptian circle, but the narrow angle and distance from the goal did not phase him as his reverse shot found the far corner of the goal to perfection, giving Scotland the lead. The second quarter was more even in nature but once again it was Scotland who got the goals from penalty corners. The first came through a Jamie Golden drag flick that went over the keeper’s head before he could react, and the second through a Struan

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20 Feb, 2025 The final day of pool play at the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup 2 came to an end in Muscat, Oman with Egypt, Poland, Scotland and United States claiming the four semi-final spots. It will be Egypt taking on United States in the first semi-final, while Scotland will take on Poland in an all-European second semi-final tie, with the matches to be played on Saturday, 22 February, following a rest day tomorrow. Egypt 2 – 2 Poland Egypt opened the scoring in the first quarter doing what they do best, as they absorbed pressure from Poland, won the possession with a good tackle and a quick counter attack set Ziad Adel one-on-one against the keeper and he made no mistake in putting the African side into the lead. Poland’s constant pressure finally paid off midway through the second quarter as Maksymilian Koperski brought them level from a penalty corner, with the teams heading into halftime level at a goal apiece. Poland finally had the lead they were desperately searching for with Gracjan Jarzyński giving them the lead with a 48th minute field goal. Egypt ramped up the pressure to find the equaliser in the final minutes and won a string of penalty corners in the last minute of the game, the fifth of which led to a penalty stroke that was dispatched by Ahmed Elganaini bringing Egypt level with less than 20 seconds left in the game. The draw gave Egypt the top spot in the pool. Poland, through the tie, also secured their semi-final spot as the second placed team in Pool A. Maksymilian Koperski, who opened the scoring for Poland in the first half was awarded the player of the match and said: “It was a good team performance but we wanted to win this game. However, a spot in the semi-final was the first aim, so we have achieved that target.” China 2 – 1 Chile Despite both teams getting knocked out of semi-finals contention before the start of the match, China and Chile showed plenty of fight in their last pool stage match. An end to end first half saw plenty of scoring opportunities but just one goal from Luis Valenzuela as Chile headed into the break up by a goal. China were back level inside a minute into the second half, as a poor giveaway just outside their defensive circle by Juan Amoroso gave China a 3 on 2 opportunity and Deng Jingwen made the most of it with a vicious shot from the top of the circle that gave the Chilean keeper no chance. China completed the turnaround in the final quarter with Lu Yuanlin pouncing on a loose ball inside the circle and calmly pushing his shot beyond the keeper’s reach. China’s defence did the rest of the work, holding firm and claiming their first win of the competition. Chao Jieming was awarded player of the match for his industrious work in the midfield and said: “Happy to get our first win of the tournament in a tough match. We didn’t start off well with Chile applying a lot of pressure, but once we got our first goal, we were much better and finished off the game well with the final quarter goal.” USA 2 – 3 Scotland Scotland began a must win game in an incredible fashion as a long aerial from the defence found Struan Walker all alone inside the American circle and the Scottish star calmly lifted the ball with his first touch over the American keeper, and a minute later they had doubled their lead through a Jamie Golden penalty corner goal. USA were back level heading into half-time however, thanks to two penalty corner strikes by emerging star Sekayi Charasika. A win would ensure a semi-final spot for Scotland, given their superior goal difference compared to the United States, and they played with that urgency in the second half. A strong spell to start the final quarter finally led to the goal the Scots were seeking as once again it was Struan Walker who provided the goods, receiving the ball inside the circle, turning to his backhand and smashing a powerful reverse shot past the sprawling goalkeeper into the bottom corner of the goal, which would be enough to give them the lead, the win and a spot in the semi-final! Struan Walker was awarded the player of the match and speaking of his goals and his team’s path forward, said: “I think that pass from Golden (for the first goal) was pretty spectacular. I don’t overthink my game, so when I saw the opportunity I just took the shot over the keeper. We don’t know yet who our opponents in the semi-finals will be, so we will be watching the next game with great interest and let’s see how the rest of the tournament goes.” Austria 5 – 3 Oman Austria needed a 5-goal win over Oman to overtake United States on goal difference and qualify for the semi-final, but it was Oman who struck first from a penalty corner in the 11th minute of the game. Austria had plenty of chances to score in the first half, winning 7 penalty corners, but were wasteful from the set pieces and went into the break down a goal, requiring a huge second half comeback to progress their Nations Cup 2 campaign. Oman once again scored first in the second half from their second penalty corner of the game, but Austria came roaring back scoring three goals towards the end of the third quarter to revive their chances of progressing to the semi-final. Needing four more goals in the final quarter, Austria scored first, but an Oman counter attack a minute later reduced the deficit once again and put the semifinals beyond the Austrians, who added another goal at the end to win the tie 5-3, but finished behind Scotland and United States in third place of Pool B. Nikolas Wellan was awarded player of

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