The Netherlands retained the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup in style by beating Argentina 3-1 in the final on Sunday. The Dutch hockey was powerful, compelling and utterly unstoppable. It gave the Oranje their ninth title – with Eva de Goede, Xan de Waard, Marloes Keetels, Margot van Geffen and Lidewij Welten all receiving their third World Cup gold medal.

Heading into the fifteenth edition of the World Cup, Netherlands were the reigning champions and had won more women’s World Cups than any other nation. With the win over Argentina in 2022, they have claimed the title on nine occasions.

Netherlands' road to ninth World Cup title

Round Opponent Result
Final Argentina Won 3-1
Semifinal Australia Won 1-0
Quarterfinal Belgium Won 2-1
Pool A Chile  Won 3-1
Pool A Germany Won 3-1
Pool A Ireland Won 5-1

The Oranje squad was boosted by the surprise return to fitness of all-time great Eva de Goede, a player who suffered cruciate ligament damage towards the end of last year, an injury most felt ended her hopes of competing. De Goede’s presence was a valuable asset to a team, her creativity shining through often times in their chase for a ninth World Cup title

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Netherlands player Laura Nunnink had said before the tournament: “We are always expected to win and anything less than Gold is not good enough for us. But it’s also a drive for us to be there all the time, to keep improving our game and make sure we stay on top. So, it’s a pressure but it’s also something that drives us to be better.”

And they did just that.

Netherlands record at the FIH Women's World Cup

Year Venue Position
1974 Mandelieu, France
 Winners 
1976 West Berlin, West Germany
 Second runners up 
1978 Madrid, Spain
 Winners 
1981 Buenos Aires, Argentina
 Runners up 
1983 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 Winners 
1986 Amstelveen, Netherlands
 Winners 
1990 Sydney, Australia
 Winners 
1994 Dublin, Ireland
 Sixth
1998 Utrecht, Netherlands
 Runners up 
2002 Perth, Australia
 Runners up 
2006 Madrid, Spain
 Winners 
2010 Rosario, Argentina
 Second runners up 
2014 The Hague, Netherlands
 Winners 
2018 London, England
 Winners
2022 Teressa, Spain and Amstelveen, Netherlands Winners

The team was once again brilliant across the board, with a whole lot of goalscorers just a reflection of the brand of hockey they played.

Netherlands' goalscorers

Player Age * Goals Games Played Current Caps
MOES Freeke 23 2 6 27
LEURINK Laurien 27 1 6 133
KEETELS Marloes (C) 29 1 6 176
ALBERS Felice 22 1 6 32
VERSCHOOR Maria 28 3 6 169
WELTEN Lidewij 31 1 6 243
MATLA Frédérique 25 4 6 104
de GOEDE Eva 33 1 6 258
PLONISSEN Sabine 27 1 6 15
JANSEN Yibbi 22 2 6 37

Before the match, Netherlands Head Coach Jamilon Mülders had spoken of the need to nullify the threat of Agustina Albertarrio and Maria Granatto, which his team proceeded to do, while simultaneously unleashing their own devastating pace, speed and vision onto the Argentina defence.

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The Netherlands continue to be the dominant force in world hockey for what seems like an age, and successfully won their third consecutive World Cup title at the event they were co-hosting with Spain. With a squad packed with some of the world’s most iconic players – including Frederique Matla, Xan de Waard and Lidewij Welten – there was every chance of them doing just that.

The team had parted company with hugely successful head coach Alyson Annan following their Olympic gold medal winning performance at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games but the team that was currently being overseen by revered coach Jamilon Mülders – the man who took Germany women to the Olympic bronze medal at the Olympic Games Rio 2016 – also lived up to it its reputation.