Belgium beats The Netherlands in shootout to win Hockey World Cup

Belgium, Olympic silver medallists, defeated Netherlands 3-2 via a penalty shoot-out to win the FIH Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on 16 December 2018. After both teams failed to score in regulation time, Belgium edged past the three-time champions Netherlands to clinch the World Cup. For Belgium, Florent Van Aubel struck twice in the shootout while Victor Wegnez was on target once. Meanwhile, for the Netherlands Jeroen Hertzberger and Jonas de Geus scored once each.
It was a great day for Belgium hockey as the country registered its second biggest international title after the Olympics silver in Rio in 2016. In the last edition of the World Cup at The Hague in Netherlands, Belgium had finished fifth. The Netherlands, on the other hand, failed to match Pakistan’s record of a fourth world title for the second consecutive edition.