SA’s hockey men and women suffer defeats in 2026 World Cup opening games

South Africa’s men’s and women’s teams both started with defeats in the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup on Sunday.

The SA men’s side began with a 3-1 Pool C loss against Spain at Stade Justin Peeters in Wavre, Belgium, with a difficult opening half leaving the African champions with too much ground to recover despite a considerably improved second-half performance.

The match also marked a major milestone for captain Dayaan Cassiem, who led South Africa onto the field for his 99th international Test cap, moving to within one appearance of a century.

Spain made the early breakthrough in the 12th minute, though Marc Reyné’s goal arrived with an element of controversy. The first touch in the build-up appeared to be played with the reverse side of the stick, but because the incident occurred outside the 25, South Africa were unable to refer the decision, with umpire Tomlinson not allowing the referral.

Before South Africa had fully recovered, Spain struck again. José Basterra doubled the advantage just a minute later to leave the South Africans facing an early 2-0 deficit.

Spain continued to apply pressure and Basterra grabbed his second of the afternoon in the 28th minute, sending his side into the half-time interval with a commanding 3-0 advantage.

They enjoyed more possession in dangerous areas, began asking many more questions of the Spanish defence and created opportunities to work their way back into the contest. Penalty corners offered South Africa one of their clearest routes back into the match, but a number of chances went unconverted.

Eventually, the pressure told. In the 45th minute, Mustapha Cassiem produced a penalty corner of the highest quality, sending an inch-perfect drag flick into the top corner to give South Africa the breakthrough their improved performance deserved.

South Africa continued to search for another goal and created a handful of opportunities that could have made the closing stages particularly uncomfortable for Spain. The chances were there, but the finishing touch proved elusive and the Spanish defence ultimately held firm.

Earlier on Sunday South Africa’s women’s team started with a 4-0 defeat against highly-rated England in Pool D at the Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen, Netherlands.

South Africa were made to pay for a difficult opening quarter as two goals in quick succession gave their opponents early control of the contest.

Darcy Bourne opened the scoring in the 10th minute before Tess Howard doubled England’s advantage just three minutes later.

The African champions continued to compete despite the setback and worked hard to find opportunities to play through the English pressure.

With South Africa seemingly set to reach halftime just two goals behind, Lizzie Neal struck in the 30th minute to make it 3-0 and give England a major cushion heading into the interval.