Las_Leonas

Argentina women's national field hockey team

Argentina women's national field hockey team

Olympic field hockey team

The Argentina women's national field hockey team (Spanish: Selección femenina de hockey sobre césped de Argentina) is governed by the Argentine Hockey Confederation (CAH). The current coach is Fernando Ferrara, who was appointed after Carlos Retegui let go in late 2021. The team is currently second in the FIH Women's World Ranking.

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

Las Leonas (The Lionesses) have appeared in six Hockey World Cup finals, including the first final in 1974, which they lost 1–0 to the Netherlands. Argentina had to settle with second place in two more finals before winning the tournament for the first time in 2002, beating the Netherlands 4–3 in the final on penalty strokes after a 1–1 draw. Argentina, led by eight-time FIH Player of the Year Luciana Aymar won again in 2010, a 3–1 victory over the Netherlands. Argentina's World Cup-winning coaches are Sergio Vigil in 2002 and Carlos Retegui in 2010.

Argentina has been very successful at the Summer Olympics, winning four consecutive medals (two silver, two bronze) since the 2000 edition, when they became the first women's team in any sport to win an Olympic medal for their country. Luciana Aymar is the only player that has participated and won those four medals. Also, after their first title in 2001 at a Hockey Champions Trophy, they have won the tournament six more times. In front of a home crowd, they won the 2014–15 Hockey World League as the first international title after Aymar's retirement from the national team the previous year.

At a continental level, Argentina has dominated and won every tournament they played, including the Pan American Cup and the Pan American Games leaving the United States with second place on most events until they lost the 2011 Pan American Games final for the first time.

In July 2003, after the implementation of an official World Ranking System, Argentina reached the top of the FIH Women's World Ranking for the first time, reaching it again in 2010 after obtaining the World Cup title and once more in late 2013.

History

Hockey was introduced in Argentina by English immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century, and the first women's teams were officially formed in 1909.[2] In 1997, Sergio Vigil, a former player for the men's national team, was appointed coach. Under his leadership, Las Leonas achieved their first World Hockey Cup title, their first Olympic medals, their first Champions Trophy medals, and many other achievements. The team went from having a rather limited audience to becoming a national sensation, with some of the players even appearing as models in advertising campaigns.

Nickname

Throughout its history, the team has developed a reputation for being tenacious even when a match appears to be lost. For this reason, a lioness was chosen as their symbol when the team qualified for the 2000 Summer Olympics. During the second round of games, Argentina played against the powerful Dutch team, and they chose this occasion to place the image of a lioness on their shirts for the first time.

The image was designed by then-player Inés Arrondo together with Vigil's sister-in-law.[3] Argentina won that match, went on to win the silver medal, and Las Leonas were born. Subsequently, the junior (under 21) team is called Las Leoncitas ("the baby lionesses" or "the lioness cubs").

The lioness logo was redesigned in 2006 by the team kit supplier, Adidas, along with Confederación Argentina de Hockey and even some of the most representative players. This is slightly different from the original, showing the lioness' tail pretending to be a hockey stick while holding a ball.[4]

The nickname also falls in line with an unwritten Argentine tradition of naming national teams after big cats: the men's field hockey team is called Los Leones ("The Lions"), the men's rugby union team is called Los Pumas ("The Pumas"), and the women's volleyball team is known as Las Panteras ("The Panthers").

Tournament records

More information World Cup, Year ...
More information Pan American Cup, Year ...
More information South American Championship, Year ...
More information Olympic Games, Year ...
More information South American Games, Year ...
More information World League, Year ...
More information Champions Trophy, Year ...

Players

Main article: Argentina women's national field hockey squad records

Current squad

The following players were called to play a test match serie against United States between February 17th and 29th in Charlotte, United States. [13]

Players, caps and goals updated as of 20 February 2024.

Head coach: Fernando Ferrara

More information No., Pos. ...

Recent call-ups

These players were called up in the last 12 months.

More information Pos., Player ...

Past players

Not in use jersey numbers

Luciana Aymar, eight-time FIH Player of the Year Award, considered as the best female hockey player of all time[15][16]

When Luciana Aymar (eight-time FIH Player of the Year Award winner and regarded as the best player in the history of the sport),[17][15][16] retired from the national team in 2014 after 376 international matches played, some of Aymar's teammates (such as Carla Rebecchi[18][19]) asked the Confederation for the retirement of her iconic number 8 worn by her during 17 years with the national team.[20] Nevertheless, the number is not officially retired by the CAH, although it has not been assigned to other players since.

Captains

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Coaches

Sergio Vigil, with whom Las Leonas won 7 titles and 2 Olympic medals
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Honours

Since its breakthrough in the 2000 Summer Olympics (where the team nicknamed "Las Leonas"' for the first time),[21] Argentina has won more than 20 official titles, which are detailed below:

See also

Notes

  • The team alternates between light blue and black skirt/socks when using their main kit, even during the same tournament, apparently arbitrarily. For example, during the 2010 World Cup, see photos from Day 1 (black), Day 3 (light blue) and Day 6 (black).

References

  1. [1]
    "FIH Outdoor World Hockey Rankings". FIH. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  2. [2]
    (in Spanish) History of the Argentine Hockey Confederation Archived 11 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. [3]
    (in Spanish) Interview with Inés Arrondo Archived 19 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine by DeporTEA Press, 10 August 2010.
  4. [4]
    "90+10 Empresas: Adidas presentó el nuevo logo de las Leonas" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2010., 29 September 2006.
  5. [5]
    "Home – FIH".
  6. [6]
    "Pan American Cups". Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  7. [7]
    "South American Championships". Archived from the original on 2 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  8. [8]
    "Home – FIH".
  9. [9]
    "Pan American Games". Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
  10. [10]
    "FIH confirms Spain men and Belgium women join Hockey Pro League". FIH.
  11. [11]
    "Home – FIH".
  12. [12]
    "Home – FIH".
  13. [13]
    https://www.cahockey.org.ar/noticia/gira-de-las-leonas-a-estados-unidos-fechas-convocadas-y-cronograma/3600
  14. [14]
    A Magui Aicega le llegó la hora del adiós tras 15 años de éxitos on La Prensa, 22 Aug 2008
  15. [15]
    Top 10 greatest field hockey players, The Telegraph, 5 January 2015
  16. [16]
    It's all about Aymar by Melina Gaspar, on The Hockey Family, 10 August 2017
  17. [17]
    Luciana Aymar profile on CAH website
  18. [18]
    Piden retirar la camiseta Nº 8 de Luciana Aymar on Rosario3, 8 Dec 2014
  19. [19]
    Rebecchi pidió retirar la camiseta número 8 de Luciana Aymar on Télam, 8 Dec 2014
  20. [20]
    Rebecchi pidió retirar la camiseta número 8, Télam, 8 December 2014
  21. [21]
    "El nacimiento de Las Leonas", CanchaLlena, 24 September 2010
  22. [22]
    "Igual son de oro", Clarín, 30 September 2000
  23. [23]
    "Las Leonas perdieron y tuvieron que conformarse con la de plata" by Sabrina Faija, Clarín, 12 August 2012
  24. [24]
    ""Las Leonas son campeonas mundiales y un verdadero orgullo de la Argentina", Los Andes, 11 September 2010". Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
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