Underwater Hockey World Championships

The championship was first held in 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada after the intended initial championship scheduled for 1979 was beset by difficulties and ultimately postponed, due to the invitation of a team from South Africa and the problems associated with apartheid.^{[citation needed]}

Subsequently, a world championship has been held every two years in locations around the world up until 2006. 2006 saw many CMAS-affiliated national federations as well as the majority of the CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission members in dispute with CMAS over policy and governance matters concerning underwater hockey. Out of the divide the World Aquachallenge Association (WAA) - an alternative governing body - was born.^[1]

In 2007 CMAS intended to incorporate the Underwater Hockey World Championship into its inaugural World Games event in Bari, Italy, an ambitious event intended to showcase all of the underwater disciplines (Underwater Rugby, Finswimming etc) governed by them in one place. As far as underwater hockey goes this event was poorly attended, in part due to it being 'out of synch' with many affiliated federations' training calendars and budgets. The following year - the 'normal' world championship year - the WAA organised their 'rival' 1st World Championship event in Durban, South Africa. This is now held by many to have been the official 2008 World Championship despite it being poorly attended too, in part this time because CMAS organised a major underwater hockey 'zone' event to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on exactly the same dates meaning a majority of European federations were forced to choose which championship their representative teams attended.^{[citation needed]}

The WAA was short-lived and since 2008 CMAS has once again administered all the world championship events in various age/gender divisions with the most recent having been held in Quebec City, Canada in 2018. World championships in the different age categories are now scheduled for every second year.^[2]

Following the 2023 resumption of the tournament following the COVID-19 pandemic, the world championships moved to being held every four years and teams would gain qualification via the new Intercontinental Championships.^[3][4]

Source:^[5]

Year	Date	Championship	Location	Nations	Events	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Ref.
1980	July 12 – 16	1st World Championship	Vancouver, Canada[7]	5	Men's	Netherlands	Great Britain	Australia	Canada	[8]
1982	February 20 – 25	2nd World Championship	Brisbane, Australia[9]	2	Men's	Australia	New Zealand	—N/a	—N/a	[8]
				3	Women's	Australia	New Zealand	Canada	—N/a
1984	May 1 – 10	3rd World Championship	Chicago, United States[10]	8	Men's	Australia	Netherlands	Great Britain	United States	[8]
					Women's	Australia	New Zealand	United States	Canada
1986	April 16 – 27	4th World Championship	Adelaide, Australia[11]	7	Men's	Canada	Australia	New Zealand	Netherlands	[8]
				2	Women's	Australia	New Zealand	—N/a	—N/a
1988	April 5 – 13	5th World Championship	Amersfoort, Netherlands[12]	9	Men's	Australia	Netherlands	Canada	New Zealand	[8]
					Women's	New Zealand	United States	Australia	Great Britain
1990	May 31 – June 9	6th World Championship	Montreal, Canada[13]	9	Men's	Australia	Great Britain	Canada	New Zealand	[8]
					Women's	Australia	New Zealand	United States	Great Britain
1992	May 12 – 20	7th World Championship	Wellington, New Zealand[14]	9	Men's Elite	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa	Great Britain	[8]
					Men's Masters	Australia	New Zealand	—N/a	—N/a
					Women's	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	Great Britain
1994	April 17 – 24	8th World Championship	Grand Couronne, France[15]	10	Men's Elite	Australia	South Africa	United States	France	[8]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Great Britain	Australia	France
					Women's	Australia	South Africa	Great Britain	France
1996	July 11 – 20	9th World Championship	Durban, South Africa[16]	11	Men's Elite	Australia	South Africa	New Zealand	Netherlands	[8]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Australia	Great Britain	United States
					Women's	South Africa	Australia	France	New Zealand
1998	June 4 – 13	10th World Championship	San José, United States[17]	14	Men's Elite	France	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	[8]
					Men's Masters	South Africa	Great Britain	United States	Australia
					Women's Elite	South Africa	Australia	United States	Canada
					Women's Masters	South Africa	United States	Great Britain	—N/a
2000	April 25 – 29	11th World Championship	Hobart, Australia[18]	15	Men's Elite	Australia	France	Canada	South Africa	[8]
					Men's Masters	Australia	South Africa	New Zealand	United States
					Women's Elite	Australia	Canada	South Africa	United States
					Women's Masters	South Africa	Australia	New Zealand	Great Britain
2002	July 20 – 28	12th World Championship	Calgary, Canada[19]	13	Men's Elite	Australia	New Zealand	France	Netherlands	[8]
					Men's Masters	United States	South Africa	Great Britain	Canada
					Women's Elite	Australia	Canada	South Africa	Great Britain
					Women's Masters	South Africa	Australia	United States	Great Britain
					Youth	Great Britain	United States	Canada	—N/a
2004	March 22 – 31	13th World Championship	Christchurch, New Zealand[20]	9	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	Australia	France	Netherlands	[8]
					Men's: Masters	United States	Australia	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	Australia	United States
					Women's: Elite	Netherlands	New Zealand	South Africa	France
					Women's: Masters	United States	Australia	France	Great Britain
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	South Africa	—N/a
2006	August 15 – 24	14th World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom[21][22]	17	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	Netherlands	France	Australia	[23][8]
					Men's: Masters	United States	South Africa	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	France	Canada
					Women's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Netherlands	Great Britain
					Women's: Masters	United States	Great Britain	Canada	—N/a
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	South Africa	—N/a
2007	July 31 – August 4	Disputed 15th World Championship (Part of 1st CMAS Games)	Bari, Italy[24]	6[25]	Men's: Elite	France	Turkey	Unknown		[26]
				4[25]	Women's: Elite	France	Turkey	Unknown
2008	April 25 – May 3	Alternative[b] 15th World Championship	Durban, South Africa[28][27]	10	Men's: Elite	France	New Zealand	South Africa	Australia	[8][29]
					Men's: Masters	South Africa	Netherlands	France	Great Britain
					Men's: U-19	Spain	New Zealand	South Africa	Colombia
					Women's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Netherlands	New Zealand
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Colombia	South Africa	Spain
2009[c]	August 21 – 29	16th World Championship	Kranj, Slovenia[30][31]	12	Men's: Elite	France	South Africa	Great Britain	Turkey	[8][32]
				7	Women's: Elite	Great Britain	South Africa	Unknown
2011	July 9 – 16	1st Junior World Championship[d] and Masters World Championships	Dordrecht, Netherlands		Men's: Masters	Unknown				[34] [35] [36]
					Men's: U-23	France	Unknown
				9	Men's: U-19	South Africa	New Zealand	Colombia	Australia
					Women's: Masters	Unknown
					Women's: U-23	New Zealand	Netherlands	Unknown
					Women's: U-19	New Zealand	South Africa	Unknown
2011	August 16 – 27	17th World Championship	Coimbra, Portugal[37][38]	10	Men's: Elite	Australia	South Africa	Colombia	France	[8]
				8	Women's: Elite	Great Britain	Australia	Unknown
2013	August 23 – September 1	18th World Championship[39] and 2nd Junior World Championship	Eger, Hungary[40]	15	Men's: Elite	France	New Zealand	Australia	Great Britain	[41][8][42]
				9	Men's: Masters	Australia	Netherlands	Great Britain	Unknown
				16	Women's: Elite	New Zealand	Great Britain	South Africa	Australia
				6	Women's: Masters	Australia	South Africa	Great Britain	Unknown
				6	Men's: U-23	New Zealand	Australia	Colombia	France
				7	Men's: U-19	Colombia	New Zealand	France	Australia
				5	Women's: U-23	New Zealand	Colombia	Great Britain	Turkey
				4	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Colombia	South Africa	Australia
2015	August 6 – 15	3rd Junior World Championship	Castello de la Plana, Spain	8	Men's: U-23	Turkey	Australia	New Zealand	Colombia	[8][43]
				10	Men's: U-19	New Zealand	France	Colombia	Great Britain
				8	Women's: U-23	Colombia	Netherlands	Great Britain	Australia
				8	Women's: U-19	South Africa	New Zealand	France	Colombia
2016	March 22 – April 2	19th World Championship	Stellenbosch, South Africa [citation needed]	14	Men's: Elite	Australia	Turkey	Great Britain	Colombia	[44]
				13	Men's: Masters	Australia	Great Britain	France	Netherlands
				9	Women's: Elite	South Africa	New Zealand	France	Colombia
				8	Women's: Masters	Australia	South Africa	Colombia	France
2017	July 15 – 23	4th Junior World Championship	Hobart, Australia	10	Men's: U-23	Turkey	France	Colombia	New Zealand	[45][46]
				9	Men's: U-19	France	Great Britain	New Zealand	Australia
				8	Women's: U-23	New Zealand	Colombia	South Africa	Great Britain
				7	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Australia	South Africa	Colombia
2018	July 18 – 28	20th World Championship	Quebec City, Canada[47]	14	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	France	Turkey	Great Britain	[48]
				13	Men's: Masters	France	South Africa	Canada	Great Britain
				9	Women's: Elite	New Zealand	Great Britain	Colombia	South Africa
				6	Women's: Masters	France	Australia	Colombia	Canada
2019	August 14 – 24	5th Junior World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom	11	Men's: U-24	Turkey	Great Britain	New Zealand	South Africa	[49]
				7	Men's: U-19	New Zealand	Great Britain	Spain	South Africa
				7	Women's: U-24	New Zealand	France	South Africa	Great Britain
				5	Women's: U-19	New Zealand	Colombia	France	Great Britain
2020, moved to 2021	July 20– August 1	21st World Championship cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Gold Coast, Australia	N/A	Men's: Elite	N/A
					Men's: Masters	N/A
					Women's: Elite	N/A
					Women's: Masters	N/A
2023[e]	July 18 – 30	21st World Championship	Gold Coast, Australia	12	Men's: Elite	New Zealand	France	Great Britain	Turkey	[50]
				8	Men's: Masters	United States	France	New Zealand	Australia
				13	Women's: Elite	Australia	France	Colombia	Great Britain
				5	Women's: Masters	France	Australia	New Zealand	United States
2024	July 16 – 27	6th Junior World Championship	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	11	Men's: U-24	New Zealand	Australia	Great Britain	France	[51]
				8	Men's: U-19	New Zealand	France	Turkey	Australia
				9	Women's: U-24	New Zealand	France	Colombia	Turkey
				7	Women's: U-19	Australia	France	New Zealand	Colombia

• Underwater Hockey European Championships
• Underwater Hockey Intercontinental Championships
• Underwater hockey at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games