Underwater Hockey World Championships

Underwater Hockey World Championships

Tournament information
Sport	Underwater Hockey
Established	1980; 44 years ago (1980)
Format	Groups and Knockout
Current champion
Elite New Zealand (men's; 2023) Australia (women's; 2023) Masters United States (men's; 2023) France (women's; 2023) U-24 Turkey (men's; 2019) New Zealand (women's; 2019) U-19 New Zealand (men's; 2019) New Zealand (women's; 2019)

The Underwater Hockey World Championship is the peak international event for the underwater sport of Underwater Hockey. The event is conducted on behalf of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) by an affiliated national federation.

History

The championship was first held in 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada after the intended initial championship scheduled for 1979 was beset by difficulties and ultimately postponed, due to the invitation of a team from South Africa and the problems associated with apartheid.^{[citation needed]}

Subsequently, a world championship has been held every two years in locations around the world up until 2006. 2006 saw many CMAS-affiliated national federations as well as the majority of the CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission members in dispute with CMAS over policy and governance matters concerning underwater hockey. Out of the divide the World Aquachallenge Association (WAA) - an alternative governing body - was born.^[1]

In 2007 CMAS intended to incorporate the Underwater Hockey World Championship into its inaugural World Games event in Bari, Italy, an ambitious event intended to showcase all of the underwater disciplines (Underwater Rugby, Finswimming etc) governed by them in one place. As far as underwater hockey goes this event was poorly attended, in part due to it being 'out of synch' with many affiliated federations' training calendars and budgets. The following year - the 'normal' world championship year - the WAA organised their 'rival' 1st World Championship event in Durban, South Africa. This is now held by many to have been the official 2008 World Championship despite it being poorly attended too, in part this time because CMAS organised a major underwater hockey 'zone' event to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on exactly the same dates meaning a majority of European federations were forced to choose which championship their representative teams attended.^{[citation needed]}

The WAA was short-lived and since 2008 CMAS has once again administered all the world championship events in various age/gender divisions with the most recent having been held in Quebec City, Canada in 2018. World championships in the different age categories are now scheduled for every second year.^[2]

Editions Summary

Championships conducted by CMAS

Source:^[3]

Senior

Year	Date	Championship	Location	Nations	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Ref.
1980	July 12 – 16	1st World Championship	Vancouver, Canada[5]	5	Men's	Netherlands	Great Britain	Australia	Canada	[6]
1982	February 20 – 25	2nd World Championship	Brisbane, Australia[7]	2	Men's	Australia	New Zealand	—	—	[6]
				3	Women's	Australia	New Zealand	Canada	—
1984	May 1 – 10	3rd World Championship	Chicago, United States[8]	8	Men's	Australia	Netherlands	Great Britain	United States	[6]
					Women's	Australia	New Zealand	United States	Canada
1986	April 16 – 27	4th World Championship	Adelaide, Australia[9]	7	Men's	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Netherlands	[6]
				2	Women's	Australia	New Zealand	—	—
1988	April 5 – 13	5th World Championship	Amersfoort, Netherlands[10]	9	Men's	Australia	Netherlands	Canada	New Zealand	[6]
					Women's	New Zealand	United States	Australia	Great Britain
1990	May 31 – June 9	6th World Championship	Montreal, Canada[11]	9	Men's	Australia	Great Britain	Canada	New Zealand	[6]
					Women's	Australia	New Zealand	United States	Great Britain
1992	May 12 – 20	7th World Championship	Wellington, New Zealand[12]	9	Men's Elite	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa	Great Britain	[6]
					Men's Masters	Australia	New Zealand	—	—
					Women's	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	Great Britain
1994	April 17 – 24	8th World Championship	Grand Couronne, France[13]	10	Men's Elite	Australia	South Africa	United States	France	[6]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Great Britain	Australia	France
					Women's	Australia	South Africa	Great Britain	France
1996	July 11 – 20	9th World Championship	Durban, South Africa[14]	11	Men's Elite	Australia	South Africa	New Zealand	Netherlands	[6]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Australia	Great Britain	United States
					Women's	South Africa	Australia	France	New Zealand
1998	June 4 – 13	10th World Championship	San José, United States[15]	14	Men's Elite	France	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	[6]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Great Britain	United States	Australia
					Women's Elite	South Africa	Great Britain	United States	Canada
					Women's Masters	South Africa	United States	Great Britain	—
2000	April 25 – 29	11th World Championship	Hobart, Australia[16]	15	Men's Elite	Australia	France	Canada	South Africa	[6]
					Men's Masters	Australia	South Africa	New Zealand	United States
					Women's Elite	Australia	Canada	South Africa	United States
					Women's Masters	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	Great Britain
2002	July 20 – 28	12th World Championship	Calgary, Canada[17]	13	Men's Elite	Australia	New Zealand	France	Netherlands	[6]
					Men's Masters	United States	South Africa	Great Britain	Canada
					Women's Elite	Australia	Canada	South Africa	Great Britain
					Women's Masters	South Africa	Australia	United States	Great Britain
					Youth	Great Britain	United States	Canada	—
2004	March 22 – 31	13th World Championship	Christchurch, New Zealand[18]	9	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	Australia	France	Netherlands	[6]
					Men's: Masters	United States	Australia	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	Australia	United States
					Women's: Elite	Netherlands	New Zealand	South Africa	France
					Women's: Masters	United States	Australia	France	Great Britain
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	South Africa	—
2006	August 15 – 24	14th World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom[19][20]	17	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	Netherlands	France	Australia	[21][6]
					Men's: Masters	United States	South Africa	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	France	Canada
					Women's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Netherlands	Great Britain
					Women's: Masters	United States	Great Britain	Canada	—
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	South Africa	—
2007	July 31 – August 4	Disputed 15th World Championship (Part of 1st CMAS Games)	Bari, Italy[22]	6	Men's: Elite	Unknown
					Women's: Elite	Unknown
2009[b]	August 21 – 29	16th World Championship	Kranj, Slovenia[23][24]	12	Men's: Elite	South Africa	Unknown			[6]
				7	Women's: Elite	Great Britain	Unknown
2011	August 16 – 27	17th World Championship	Coimbra, Portugal[25][26]	10	Men's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Columbia	France	[6]
				8	Women's: Elite	Great Britain	Australia	Unknown
2013	August 23 – September 1	18th World Championship[27]	Eger, Hungary[28]	15	Men's: Elite	France	New Zealand	Australia	Great Britain	[29][6]
				9	Men's: Masters	Australia	Netherlands	Unknown
				16	Women's: Elite	New Zealand	Great Britain	Unknown	Australia
				6	Women's: Masters	Australia	South Africa	Unknown
2016	March 22 – April 2	19th World Championship	Stellenbosch, South Africa [citation needed]	14	Men's: Elite	Australia	Turkey	Great Britain	Columbia	[30]
				13	Men's: Masters	Australia	Great Britain	France	Netherlands
				9	Women's: Elite	South Africa	New Zealand	France	Columbia
				8	Women's: Masters	Australia	South Africa	Columbia	France
2018	July 18 – 28	20th World Championship	Quebec City, Canada[31]	14	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	France	Turkey	Great Britain	[32]
				13	Men's: Masters	France	South Africa	Canada	Great Britain
				9	Women's: Elite	New Zealand	Great Britain	Columbia	South Africa
				6	Women's: Masters	France	Australia	Columbia	Canada
2020, moved to 2021	July 20– August 1	21st World Championship cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Gold Coast, Australia	N/A	Men's: Elite	N/A
					Men's: Masters	N/A
					Women's: Elite	N/A
					Women's: Masters	N/A
2022	July 23 – 31	World Cup (International Restart Event)[c]	Ankara, Turkey		Men's: Elite	Unknown
					Men's: Masters	Unknown
					Women's: Elite	Unknown
					Women's: Masters	Unknown
2023	July 18 – 30	21st World Championship	Gold Coast, Australia	12	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	France	Great Britain	Turkey	[34]
				8	Men's: Masters	United States	France	New Zealand	Australia
				13	Women's: Elite	Australia	France	Columbia	Great Britain
				5	Women's: Masters	France	Australia	New Zealand	United States

Junior

Year	Date	Championship	Location	Nations	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Ref.
2013	August 23 – September 1	2nd Junior World Championship[d]	Eger, Hungary	6	Men's: U-23	New Zealand	Australia	Unknown		[29][6]
				7	Men's: U-19	Colombia	Unknown		Australia
				5	Women's: U-23	New Zealand	Unknown
				4	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Unknown		Australia
2015	August 6 – 15	3rd Junior World Championship	Castello de la Plana, Spain	8	Men's: U-23	Turkey	Australia	New Zealand	Columbia	[6][35]
				10	Men's: U-19	New Zealand	France	Colombia	Great Britain
				8	Women's: U-23	Colombia	Netherlands	Great Britain	Australia
				8	Women's: U-19	South Africa	New Zealand	France	Colombia
2017	July 15 – 23	4th Junior World Championship	Hobart, Australia	10	Men's: U-23	Turkey	Unknown			[36]
				9	Men's: U-19	France	Unknown
				8	Women's: U-23	New Zealand	Unknown
				7	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Unknown
2019	August 14 – 24	5th Junior World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom	11	Men's: U-24	Turkey	Great Britain	New Zealand	South Africa	[37]
				7	Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	Spain	South Africa
				7	Women's: U-24	New Zealand	France	South Africa	Great Britain
				5	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Columbia	France	Great Britain
2021, moved to 2022	July 23 – 31	World Cup (International Restart Event)[c][e]	Ankara, Turkey		Men's: U-24	Unknown
					Men's: U-19	Unknown
					Women's: U-24	Unknown
					Women's: U-19	Unknown
2024	July 16 – 27	6th Junior World Championship	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia		Men's: U-24	TBA
					Men's: U-19	TBA
					Women's: U-24	TBA
					Women's: U-19	TBA

Championships conducted by WAA

The 1st WAA World Championships is considered by some as being the legitimate 15th Championships.^[38]

Year	Date	Championship	Location	Nations	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Ref.
2008	April 25 – May 3	Alternative 15th World Championships	Durban, South Africa[39][40]	10	Men's: Elite	France	New Zealand	South Africa	Australia	[6]
					Men's: Masters	South Africa	Netherlands	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	Spain	New Zealand	South Africa	Columbia
					Women's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Netherlands	New Zealand
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Columbia	South Africa	Spain

Results by Nation

Nation	Titles	Men's Elite	Women's Elite	Men's Masters	Women's Masters	Men's U-23/24	Women's U-23/24	Men's U-19	Women's U-19
Australia	26	11: 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2011, 2016	9: 1982, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2008[f], 2023	4: 1992, 2000, 2013, 2016	2: 2013, 2016
New Zealand	21	4: 2004, 2006, 2018, 2023	3: 1988, 2013, 2018			1: 2013	3: 2013, 2017, 2019	4: 2004, 2006, 2015, 2019	6: 2004, 2006, 2008,[f] 2013, 2017, 2019
South Africa	12	1: 2009	4: 1992, 1996, 1998, 2016	3: 1996, 1998, 2008[f]	3: 1998, 2000, 2002				1: 2015
France	7	3: 1998, 2008,[f] 2013		1: 2018	2: 2018, 2023			1: 2017
United States	6			4: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2023	2: 2004, 2006
Turkey	3					3: 2015, 2017, 2019
Great Britain			2: 2009, 2011					1: 2002
Colombia	2						1: 2015	1: 2013
The Netherlands		1: 1980	1: 2004
Canada	1	1: 1986
Spain								1: 2008[f]

See also

• Underwater Hockey European Championships
• Underwater hockey at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games

Notes

References

External links

• CMAS Championship Archive
• WAA World Championship Results