Field Hockey has occupied quite an important position in the international sports scenario of Spain. There are a very few nations which are currently dominating field hockey and Spanish hockey team is one of them. Currently, the Spanish Hockey team is at the fourth place in the international ranking while first, second and third places are dominated by Germany, Australia and Netherlands respectively (according to the ABN AMRO rating).
Rise of Spain in Field Hockey commenced from the year 1900 onwards. Though the National Hockey team of Spain started competing in various international level championships, but at the initial stage it did not participate in the Summer Olympics.
Spain showed its excellence at the international level, by participating in the 1928 Summer Olympics. In this competition, though Spain ended up by occupying the eighth position, it proved that it has all the capacity to dominate the world of international hockey, sooner or later.
To prove truthfulness of this statement, it took almost three decades for the National Hockey team of Spain. In the Summer Olympics of 1960, Spain occupied 3rd position and then in the forth coming Olympic Games, this team continued with its good performance, except the year 1972. Till date Spain has not become a champion in the Olympic Games. In 1980 and 1996, this team reached quite near to championship but ended up, unfortunately, being runners up only. In the last Olympic, 2004, it occupied the fourth position.
In the Field Hockey World Cup, Spain started participating from 1971, and on that very year it started the whole world by reaching second place. But, until 1998, Spain's performance was not up to the mark in the World Cup. Respectively in 1998 and 2006, this nation won the Silver, and the Bronze Medal.
In the famous Field Hockey competition, European Nations Cup, Spain has successfully been able to demand the respect of the other participating teams. It became champions of this competition in the years, 1974 and 2005. In 1970 and 2003, Spain received the status of earning the third and second position. While it comes to the Champions Trophy in Field Hockey, the years 1997, 2004, 2005 and 2006 are really very important for the history of field hockey in Spain. In 2004, Spain became the champion while in the other years (mentioned above), it occupied the third place in this competition.
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Some of the most famous hockey players in Spanish Field Hockey are, Pablo Amat, Santi Freixa, Javier Arnau and Juan Escarré. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, Francisco Fábregas of Spain was selected as the best player in the whole tournament.
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