1998 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy

The 1998 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy took place from October 31 to November 8, 1998 in the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. Participating nations were Australia, titleholders Germany, Netherlands, hosting nation Pakistan, Korea and Spain.

The Koreans replaced England, that withdrew from the tournament. The decision was taken following consideration of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's travel advice which deters 'non essential visits' to the region and suggests that any visitors 'adopt a low profile.' England may have felt cause for concern because it supported the US bombing in August of guerrilla bases in neighboring Afghanistan.

The FIH later concluded that "the withdrawal was the result of circumstances beyond the control of the English Hockey Association, and was made having regard for their responsibility as a hockey association representing the best interests of their players and officials." Later, the FIH Competitions Committee decided to include England among the panel of participants for the 21st Men’s Champions Trophy scheduled for June 10 to June 20, 1999 in Brisbane, Australia. This dashed the hopes of Canada, who were hoping to participate in the Brisbane Champions Trophy if England was barred.

For the seventh time the annual six nations tournament ended with play-offs, in which the numbers one and two from the Round Robin faced each other in the final. The numbers three and four played the bronze medal game, while the numbers five and six tried to avoid relegation in their fifth and sixth place match. For the third time a win was rewarded with three instead of two points in the preliminary round robin.

Results

Pool

Classification

Final ranking

#fh|NED
#fh|PAK
#fh|AUS
#fh|KOR
#fh|ESP
#fh|GER

Awards

ummary

In the final, Holland defeated Pakistan 3-1 in front of a 40,000 strong Pakistani crowd to win the 20th Champions Trophy. The Dutch team thus picked up the third jewel in the hockey triple crown. The Netherlands are also 1998 World Champions and 1996 Olympic Champions – the only men's team to hold all three major world titles at once.