Champions Trophy (field hockey)

The Champions Trophy is the International Hockey Federation's most prestigious annual event (since 1980). It features the world's top-ranked teams competing in a round robin format. The Pakistan Hockey Federation started the competition as a men's tournament in 1978 and it was only as late as 1987 that the first women's tournament took place.

Pakistan, the only Asian country to win the tournament so far, have won the trophy thrice -- twice when they hosted the tournament in Lahore, in the inaugural years in 1978 and 1980. After 1980, the tournament became an annual affair.

Six teams qualify for the championship, though the first edition had five teams and the second had seven. In the year following the Olympics or a World Cup, the six teams include the host, the defending champion, the world champion and the next highest ranked teams from either the most recent World Cup or Olympic Games.

The last placed team in the tournament is dropped and replaced by the winner of the recently-introduced Champions Challenge.

Only four nations have able to win the trophy between 1978 and 2001: Pakistan (three times), The Netherlands (5), Australia (7) and Germany (8).

India's best showing is a third place in the fourth edition at Amstelveen, the Netherlands.

The 18th edition, in Madras (now known as Chennai), in 1996, was the last time India, as hosts, figured in the tournament. The team finished fourth.

History

(1) First Men's Champions Trophy November 17 - 24, 1978 at Lahore, Pakistan

Position:

1. Pakistan
2. Australia
3. Great Britain
4. New Zealand
5. Spain

(2) Second Men's Champions Trophy, January 3 - 11, 1980 at Lahore, Pakistan

1. Pakistan
2. Germany
3. Australia
4. The Netherlands
5. India
6. Spain
7. Great Britain

(3) Third Men's Champions Trophy, January 9 - 16, 1981 held at Karachi, Pakistan

1. The Netherlands
2. Australia
3. Germany
4. Pakistan
5. Spain
6. England

(4)Fourth Men's Champions Trophy, June 6 - 13, 1982 held at Amstelveen, The Netherlands

1. The Netherlands
2. Australia
3. India
4. Pakistan
5. Germany
6. USSR

(5) Fifth Men's Champions Trophy, October 28 - November 4, 1983 held at Karachi, Pakistan

1. Australia
2. Pakistan
3. Germany
4. India
5. The Netherlands
6. 6 New Zealand

(6) Sixth Men's Champions Trophy, December 1 - 8, 1984 held at Karachi, Pakistan

1. Australia
2. Pakistan
3. Great Britain
4. The Netherlands
5. New Zealand
6. Spain

(7) Seventh Men's Champions Trophy, November 16 - 24, 1985 held at Perth, Australia

1. Australia
2. Great Britain
3. Germany
4. Pakistan
5. The Netherlands
6. India

(8) Eighth Men's Champions Trophy, April 4 - 11, 1986 held at Karachi, Pakistan

1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Pakistan
4. Great Britain
5. India
6. The Netherlands

(9) Ninth Men's Champions Trophy, June 19 - 26, 1987 held at Amstelveen, The Netherlands

1. Germany
2. The Netherlands
3. Australia
4. Great Britain
5. Argentina
6. Spain
7. Pakistan
8. USSR

(10) Tenth Men's Champions Trophy, March 25 - April 1, 1988 held at Lahore, Pakistan

1. Germany
2. Pakistan
3. Australia
4. USSR
5. Spain
6. Great Britain

(11) Eleventh Men's Champions Trophy, November 16 - 24, 1989 held at Berlin, Germany

1. Australia
2. The Netherlands
3. Germany
4. Pakistan
5. Great Britain
6. India

(12) Twelfth Men's Champions Trophy, November 17 - 25, 1990 at Melbourne, Australia

1. Australia
2. The Netherlands
3. Germany
4. Pakistan
5. USSR
6. Great Britain

(13) Thirteenth Men's Champions Trophy, September 13 - 22, 1991 at Berlin, Germany

1. Germany
2. Pakistan
3. The Netherlands
4. Australia
5. Great Britain
6. USSR

(14) Fourteenth Men's Champions Trophy, February 20 - 28 1992 at Karachi, Pakistan

1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Pakistan
4. The Netherlands
5. Great Britain
6. France

(15) Fifteenth Men's Champions Trophy, July 3 - 11, 1993 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

1. Australia
2. Germany
3. The Netherlands
4. Pakistan
5. Spain
6. Malaysia

(16) Sixteenth Men's Champions Trophy, March 17 - 25, 1994

at Lahore, Pakistan 

Pakistan

Germany

The Netherlands

Australia

Spain

Great Britain

(17) Seventeenth Men's Champions Trophy, September 23 - October 1, 1995 at Berlin, Germany

1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Pakistan
4. The Netherlands
5. India
6. England

(18) Eighteenth Men's Champions Trophy, December 7 - 15, 1996 at Madras, India

1. The Netherlands
2. Pakistan
3. Germany
4. India
5. Spain
6. Australia

(19) Nineteenth Men's Champions Trophy, October 17 - 19, 1997 at Adelaide, Australia

1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Spain
4. The Netherlands
5. Pakistan
6. Korea

(20) Twenthieth Men's Champions Trophy, October 31 - November 8, 1998 at Lahore, Pakistan

1. The Netherlands
2. Pakistan
3. Australia
4. Korea
5. Spain
6. Germany

(21) 21st Men's Champions Trophy, June 10 - 20, 1999 at Brisbane, Australia

1. Australia
2. Korea
3. The Netherlands
4. Spain
5. England
6. Pakistan

(22) 22nd Men's Champions Trophy, May 27 - June 4, 2000

Amstelveen, The Netherlands 

The Netherlands

Germany

Korea

Spain

Australia

Great Britain

(23) 23rd Men's Champions Trophy, November 3 - 11, 2001

Rotterdam, The Netherlands 

Germany

Australia

The Netherlands

Pakistan

England

Korea

(24) 24th Men's Champions Trophy, 2002 (25) 25th Men's Champions Trophy, 2003 (26) 26th Men's Champions Trophy, 2004 (27) 27th Men's Champions Trophy, 2005