Hockey | The Netherlands and Australia hope to rewrite history at the FIH junior mens World Cup

At the FIH World junior men’s Cup tournaments, Australia and The Netherlands have always been widely followed with keen interest.

However, when compared to their senior teams’ exploits, the achievements of the junior team pales in comparison.

The Australian and the Dutch senior men teams have won the World Cup three times each. While the Burras, as the Australian junior men’s team is referred to, has won the World Cup only once (1997) and The Netherlands has not yet own it. It, nevertheless, has two silver (1985 & 2009) and two bronze medals (1979 & 2013) to show.

This time, Australia has had a near-perfect preparations going into the 2025 FIH junior men’s World Cup to be held in Chennai and Madurai from November 28 to December 10.

It qualified for the World Cup by winning the Oceania Junior Cup followed by winning the Sultan of Johor Cup last month, defeating two-time World champions India twice (in the group stage and the final).

“We are ready to put a good performance together,” said Jay Stacy, Australia’s head coach, to the The Hindu here on Friday.

The World Cup has always been difficult, according to the Dutch head coach Jesse Mahieu. “The Netherlands has won four medals. We’re not used to winning the World Cup. Hopefully we can make it that far as it’s about time. We have a good group, and I have a lot of confidence in the guys,” said the 47-year-old, who has been the junior team head coach since 2022, and for whom this will be his farewell assignment.

Mahieu said the reason the junior Dutch teams are not able to perform well has been due to its lack of full-fledged programs. “I think what you see is that a lot of other countries have full-time programs in under-21 age category. Our preparation in winter is short. That makes a difference,” said Mahieu.