The 1971 Men's Hockey World Cup was the inaugural edition of the Hockey World Cup. It took place from 15 to 24 October in Barcelona, Spain. Pakistan were the inaugural World Cup winners, beating Spain in the final, 1–0.

Participants

The first World Cup was the only one without qualification. It was an invitational tournament where the top ten teams from five continents were invited by the International Hockey Federation by merit of their performances in the Summer Olympics. The teams were divided into two groups for five each, with the top two proceeding to the semi-finals after the round-robin stage. Gold medalists at the 1968 Olympics, Pakistan, were grouped in 'B' alongside runners-up Australia, and Spain, the Netherlands and Japan. Group 'A' included Argentina, France, India, Kenya and West Germany.

Results

Preliminary round

Pool A

Pool B

Classification round

Ninth and tenth place

Fifth to eighth place classification

Crossover

Seventh and eighth place

Fifth and sixth place

First to fourth place classification

Semi-finals

Third and fourth place

Final

Final squads

Pakistan Muhammad Aslam, Akhtar ul Islam, Munawwar uz Zaman, Jahangir Butt, Riaz Ahmed, Fazal ur Rehman, Khalid Mahmood, Ashfaq Ahmed, Abdul Rashid, Islahuddin Siddiquee, Shahnaz Sheikh, Muhammad Asad Malik Spain Luis Twose, Antonio Nogués (sub Jamie Amat), Francisco Segura, Juan Amat, Francisco Fábregas Bosch, Jorge Fábregas, Vicente Llorach, Juan Quintana, Francisco Amat, José Sallés, Agustín Masaña

Statistics

Final standings

As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Goalscorers

World Eleven

The journalists covering the competition selected a 'world eleven' on 25 October 1971. Japan goalkeeper Satokazu Otsuka was named as player of the tournament.