Junior Hockey World Cup 2025: Serial winner Germany hungry for more accolades under coach Stenzel
It’s not every day that you win your group’s toughest match 4-0 and the coach and captain come out and seem dissatisfied. But this is the Germany junior men’s team. Every ground it steps foot in, every opponent it faces, it is expected to come up trumps. Or so history suggests.
In the last 13 editions of the junior men’s World Cup, the team has won the title seven times (three as West Germany). Among the six times it has failed to win, it has earned a place on the podium five times, failing to do so only in 2005.
When South Africa created a couple of slick yet botched incursions into the German circle in the opening Pool A encounter of the FIH Junior Men’s World Cup in Madurai, that was enough for the German duo to talk about going back to the drawing board.
“We had a tough start. Our defence was under high pressure from them. They had several corners against us. 1-0 at half-time, but we came back and scored three goals. So it was good,” skipper Paul Glander told Sportstar at the end of the game. “The result was not really what the game was like. We had quite a lot of difficulties in the beginning,” head coach Mirko Stenzel concurred.
The second game against Canada was far more fluid. More circle penetrations earned (47 compared to 27 from the first game) and fewer conceded (4 compared to 15) helped the team win 7-0. But Stenzel didn’t seem too pleased.
Mirko Stenzel (2nd from right) and Johannes Schmitz (3rd from right) were part of the coaching setup at the Die Danas, the German women’s team.
| Photo Credit:
G Moorthy
Mirko Stenzel (2nd from right) and Johannes Schmitz (3rd from right) were part of the coaching setup at the Die Danas, the German women’s team.
| Photo Credit:
G Moorthy
“We’re glad that we were able to take the next step towards the quarterfinal, but we weren’t able to apply as much pressure and to fulfil what we expected and had planned for. Especially in the first half, a lot of technical errors, not really clinical in the last third,” the coach said.
Stenzel’s concern isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. The Germans had the air of invincibility sucked away from around them last year. The team failed to finish in the top three of the Men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship 2024, for the first time since the event’s inception in 1976. The result forced a rethink of the plans, including an overhaul of the coaching staff.
Stenzel and Johannes Schmitz, who were part of the coaching setup at the Die Danas, the German women’s team, were brought in early this year to stem the slide. The duo soon steered the ship back to its original course. Wins over India, Spain and Australia in the 4-nations tournament in Berlin in June, followed by a thumping junior test series sweep over Egypt in Cairo, with a scoreline of 26-1 across three games, served as the ideal preparation before travelling south to defend the title.
“We [Stenzel and Schmitz] have worked together for a very long time, almost 12 years. We’re good friends and that is one of the reasons which make us work well together,” Stenzel said.
Three members from the triumphant German team from the 2023 edition are also part of the current group – Glander, Ben Hasbach and Christian Franz. Hasbach was the lone bright spot in the disappointing Euro U21 campaign, finishing as the leading scorer of the tournament with 11 goals. He has already bagged four in the first two matches of the competition.
“We have put the disappointment from last year behind us. We are back stronger now, with new coaches and more talented young players. We’re looking forward to winning the title again,” Hasbach asserted.
Two wins in two with 13 goals scored, and none conceded and yet Germany has yet to engage top gear. The other teams in the competition better brace themselves for a Gewitter in the business end if they dream of stealing the title away from Germany.
Published on Nov 30, 2025