The fifth-place finish at the 2026 FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup should not be viewed merely as a pleasant surprise for Indian hockey. It deserves to be understood as evidence of something more fundamental: a team that has begun to rediscover its identity. The scorelines, the defensive statistics and the historic ranking will attract attention, but the more significant development has happened inside the dressing room. When Sjoerd Marijne says, “If it was magic, we would be number one in the world.”, he is making a point that Indian sport often needs to hear. Progress is rarely magic. It is culture, clarity, discipline and repetition.
The real victory was building a team. India’s fifth-place finish in Amstelveen was its best performance at a Women’s World Cup since finishing fourth at the inaugural edition in 1974. The achievement came after a campaign in which Salima Tete’s side lost only once in six matches, to defending champions and world No. 1 Netherlands. India held China, England and Australia to draws, defeated South Africa 6-1 and then beat world No. 5 Germany 3-1 in the classification match.
Those numbers matter. But they do not tell the entire story. Marijne returned to the Indian women’s team at a difficult moment. The side had missed the Paris Olympics and had experienced a period of instability and poor results. The coach’s first priority was therefore not simply to install another tactical system. It was to repair the team’s collective mindset. “For me, it’s about what makes a big difference in teams. And one of the things is creating unity. That is something we have done with the whole staff,” he told.
That philosophy was visible throughout the World Cup. India’s fifth place should be celebrated, but the bigger achievement is that Marijne has made “team” the foundation of India’s hockey rather than an afterthought. The next test is whether this culture survives pressure, expectation and setbacks. Defence became the language of this team. India’s most impressive transformation came in defence. “For me, defense is the first thing. It comes with a lot of structure and discipline. And it’s doing the small things well like putting your left hand down, defending with two hands, all those small things. And I’m really on top of that with my technical staff,” Marijne explained.
It sounds almost mundane. That is precisely why it is important. Elite sport is often decided by details that spectators barely notice. A defensive position, a correctly timed press, a player tracking back, a passing lane being closed or a teammate covering space can determine the outcome of an entire match. India demonstrated that discipline against some of the world’s strongest teams. The goalless draws against England and Australia were particularly revealing because they showed that India could remain structurally sound even when attacking opportunities were limited. The 0-2 defeat against the Netherlands also showed the gap that remains, but India did not collapse against the world’s benchmark side.
Marijne’s philosophy is straightforward. “And if the defensive part is good, we can start talking about attacking. And you always create opportunities, one match more than the other. But that is for us the next step to create even more, but also execute more,” he said. That next step is crucial. The attack still needs another gear. India’s defensive improvement should not hide an uncomfortable reality. The team still needs to become more consistent in the attacking third.
The Germany victory offered a glimpse of what India can produce when execution matches opportunity. Ishika opened the scoring in the 43rd minute before Navneet Kaur struck twice in the 44th and 47th minutes. Germany eventually pulled one back, but India had already established control. “In a perfect world, we want to improve on that front. But if you see The Netherlands-Argentina game, the former scored one PC and Argentina converted one of five PCs. So it’s always a combination of creating field chances and PCs,” he said.
The challenge now is consistency rather than occasional brilliance. “In women’s hockey it’s not like you get five field chances, you make all five. The way we did against Germany, that is the way it has to be. We have recreated space and we executed on the right moment. We came 12 times in the circle, we got two PCs and we got three goals. So I’m happy about those numbers,” he added. That is the difference between a team that can surprise and a team that can challenge for medals.
Unity cannot be reduced to a slogan. Perhaps the most striking symbol of India’s campaign was the unity bands worn by the players and Marijne. “Nobody can perform without their teammate. When they look into their wrist, they see the red-yellow bands. It’s for India that they remember I’m doing this for my teammate. And if they push harder, it’s easier for their teammate who comes in after them,” he said. There is substance behind that symbolism.
Marijne has repeatedly spoken about creating an environment in which players understand their roles and accept responsibility. Hockey India had already emphasised the mix of experienced players and 11 World Cup debutants in the squad. “If everybody is doing his job and is task driven, you have less complaints in the team and less irritations,” he said. That may be one of the most important lessons from this campaign. Unity is not everyone thinking alike. It is everyone understanding what they owe to one another.
Now comes the harder examination. The Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, beginning September 19, provide India’s immediate opportunity to prove this was not a one-tournament revival. Hockey India has already named a 20-member squad led by Tete, with Marijne identifying India, China, Japan and Korea as the principal gold contenders. “We are one of the four countries which is one of the competitors for the gold. And that’s China, Japan and Korea. Everybody now expects the gold, but for us, it’s match by match,” he concluded.
The World Cup has changed expectations around this Indian team. The danger now is that fifth place becomes a burden rather than a platform. The players cannot spend the Asian Games trying to prove that the World Cup was real. They have to build on it. India’s recent rise did not begin in Amstelveen. Before the World Cup, the team qualified through the Hyderabad qualifiers and then won the FIH Nations Cup unbeaten, earning promotion back to the Pro League.
There is only the difficult work of creating a culture, protecting it when results turn against you and demanding that every small detail be done correctly.
