Underwater Hockey World Championships

The Underwater Hockey World Championship is the peak international event for the underwater sport of Underwater Hockey. The event is conducted on behalf of the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) by an affiliated national federation. The championship was first held in 1980 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada after the intended initial championship scheduled for 1979 was beset by difficulties and ultimately postponed, due to the invitation of a team from South Africa and the problems associated with apartheid.^{[citation needed]}

Subsequently, a world championship has been held every two years in locations around the world up until 2006. 2006 saw many CMAS-affiliated national federations as well as the majority of the CMAS Underwater Hockey Commission members in dispute with CMAS over policy and governance matters concerning underwater hockey. Out of the divide the World Aquachallenge Association (WAA) - an alternative governing body - was born.^[1]

In 2007 CMAS intended to incorporate the Underwater Hockey World Championship into its inaugural World Games event in Bari, Italy, an ambitious event intended to showcase all of the underwater disciplines (Underwater Rugby, Finswimming etc) governed by them in one place. As far as underwater hockey goes this event was poorly attended, in part due to it being 'out of synch' with many affiliated federations' training calendars and budgets. The following year - the 'normal' world championship year - the WAA organised their 'rival' 1st World Championship event in Durban, South Africa. This is now held by many to have been the official 2008 World Championship despite it being poorly attended too, in part this time because CMAS organised a major underwater hockey 'zone' event to be held in Istanbul, Turkey on exactly the same dates meaning a majority of European federations were forced to choose which championship their representative teams attended.^{[citation needed]}

The WAA was short-lived and since 2008 CMAS has once again administered all the world championship events in various age/gender divisions with the most recent having been held in Quebec City, Canada in 2018. World championships in the different age categories are now scheduled for every second year.^[2] and the next world championships are scheduled for:

August 2019 in Sheffield, England - Men and Women, U19 and U24

July 2020 in Brisbane, Australia - Men and Women, Masters and Elite

History[]

Championships conducted by CMAS[]

Year	Date	Championship	Location event	# Nations	# Events
1980	July 12 – 16	1st World Championship	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada^[3]	5	Men's, women's
1982	February 20 – 25	2nd World Championship	Brisbane, Australia^[4]	3	Men's, women's
1984	May 1 – 10	3rd World Championship	Chicago, United States^[5]	8	Men's, women's
1986	April 16 – 27	4th World Championship	Adelaide, Australia^[6]	7	Men's, women's
1988	April 5 – 13	5th World Championship	Amersfoort, Netherlands^[7]	9	Men's, women's
1990	May 31 – June 9	6th World Championship	Montreal, Quebec, Canada^[8]	9	Men's, women's
1992	May 12 – 20	7th World Championship	Wellington, New Zealand^[9]	9	Men's, women's, masters
1994	April 17 – 24	8th World Championship	Grand Couronne, France^[10]	10	Men's, women's, masters
1996	July 11 – 20	9th World Championship	Durban, South Africa^[11]	11	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters
1998	June 4 – 13	10th World Championship	San José, United States^[12]	14	Men's group A & B, women's, masters, women’s masters, friendly games
2000	April 25 – 29	11th World Championship	Hobart, Australia^[13]	15	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters,
2002	July 20 – 28	12th World Championship	Calgary, Alberta, Canada^[14]	13	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters, youth
2004	March 22 – 31	13th World Championship	Christchurch, New Zealand^[15]	9	Men's, women's, masters, women’s masters, Under 19 open & women under 19
2006	August 15 – 24	14th World Championship	Sheffield, United Kingdom^[16]^[17]	17	Men group A & B, masters, women, women masters, under 19 open, under 19 women, friendly games
2007	July 31 – August 4	15th World Championship/1st CMAS Underwater Games	Bari, Italy^[18]	6	Men, women,
2009	August 21 – 29	16th World Championship	Kranj, Slovenia^[19]^[20]	12	Men, women,
2011	August 16 – 27	17th World Championship	Coimbra, Portugal^[21]^[22]	12	Men, women,
2013	August 23 – September 1	18th World Championship	Eger, Hungary^[23]	19	Men - elite, masters, under 23 & under 19; women - elite, masters, under 23 & under 19^[24]
2016	March 22 – April 2	19th World Championship	Stellenbosch, South Africa^{[citation needed]}	17	Men - elite, women - elite, masters Men; masters Women.
2018	July 18 – 28	20th World Championship	Quebec City, Quebec, Canada^[25]	5	Men - elite, women - elite, masters Men; masters Women.
2021	July 20– August 1	21st World Championship	Gold Coast, Australia	900	Men - elite, women - elite, masters Men; masters Women.