This was India’s second fourth-place finish in the FIH Pro League, having achieved the same position in their debut season in 2020-21. The Indian hockey team was third in the 2021-22 season.
The FIH Pro League 2022-23 campaign was a tale of two halves for the Craig Fulton-coached Indian hockey team.
In the first leg of the season played at home, India put on an impressive display, winning five, drawing two and losing just a single match. India’s solitary defeat in their home leg was a 3-2 loss against Spain in Bhubaneswar.
The results included some impressive victories, including a double (3-2 and 6-3) over reigning world champions Germany.
Against Commonwealth Games champions Australia, India won the first match 5-4 before drawing the second 2-2. India won the shootout 4-3.
The away leg, played in Europe, however, didn’t prove as fruitful. India were leading the FIH Pro League points table going into the European leg of their fixtures played in London and Eindhoven. However, the Indian men’s hockey team lost ground after managing just three wins, four defeats and one draw from the eight away games.
India’s wins on the road came against Argentina (2) and Belgium (1). Meanwhile, they lost both their matches against eventual champions Netherlands.
India did beat Argentina 2-0 in their final fixture to end their campaign placed at the top of the points table with 30 points from 16 outings but it was not enough to win them their maiden title. Other teams would later win their games in hand to overtake India in the standings.
The Netherlands (35 points from 16 matches) saw off challengers Great Britain (32 points) to successfully defend their crown. Belgium, with 30 points, finished above India in the table courtesy of having more wins to their name (10 vs India’s eight).
New Zealand, with just three points, finished last and were relegated to the FIH Men’s Nations Cup for next season.
Interestingly, India won all three of their shootouts in FIH Pro League 2022-23 – 3-1 against Spain, 4-3 against Australia and 4-2 against Great Britain.
India captain Harmanpreet Singh is also poised to finish as the top-scorer in FIH Pro League 2022-23 with 18 goals. The penalty corner specialist had also topped the goal-scoring charts last season with the same number of strikes.
FIH Pro League 2022-23 standings
| No. | Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | SO bonus | GF | GA | GD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Netherlands | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 46 | 31 | 15 | 35 |
| 2 | Great Britain | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 46 | 27 | 19 | 32 |
| 3 | Belgium | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 37 | 5 | 30 |
| 4 | India | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 51 | 42 | 9 | 30 |
| 5 | Spain | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 33 | 37 | -4 | 24 |
| 6 | Germany | 15 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 28 | 31 | -3 | 22 |
| 7 | Australia | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 41 | 40 | 1 | 19 |
| 8 | Argentina | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 36 | -8 | 18 |
| 9 | New Zealand | 16 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 60 | -34 | 3 |
FIH Pro League 2022-23: Indian hockey team results
- October 28, 2022: India 4-3 New Zealand – Won
- October 30, 2022: India 2-3 Spain – Lost
- November 4, 2022: India 7-4 New Zealand – Won
- November 6, 2022: India 2(3)-2(1) Spain – Draw; India win shootout
- March 10, 2023: India 3-2 Germany – Won
- March 12, 2023: India 5-4 Australia – Won
- March 13, 2023: India 6-3 Germany – Won
- March 15, 2023: India 2(4)-2(3) Australia – Draw; India win shootout
- May 26, 2023: India 1-2 Belgium – Lost
- May 27, 2023: India 2-4 Great Britain – Lost
- June 2, 2023: India 5-1 Belgium – Won
- June 3, 2023: India 4(4)-4(2) Great Britain – Draw; India win shootout
- June 7, 2023: India 1-4 Netherlands – Lost
- June 8, 2023: India 3-0 Argentina – Won
- June 10, 2023: India 2-3 Netherlands – Lost
- June 11, 2023: India 2-1 Argentina – Won
