Hockey: Indian star Harmanpreet Singh named men’s FIH Player of the Year 2021-22

Harmanpreet Singh of India and Felice Albers of Netherlands have been named the FIH Players of the Year 2021-22 in the women’s and men’s category respectively, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced on Friday.

Harmanpreet Singh is one of India’s superstars. He is a terrific defender with a knack for being at the right place at the right time to breakdown the opponent’s offense. He has great dribbling skills to carry the ball up the field from defense. But what has elevated him to the levels he is at now is the goals. To add to that impressive resume, he has now been voted the FIH Player of the Year, for the second year running.

His goal-scoring ability has gone up a level this past year as multiple teams have found his penalty corner drag flicks impossible to deal with. His scoring record includes an incredible 18 goals from 16 games, with two hat-tricks, in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021-’22. With those 18 goals, he ended the season as the top scorer for India and now holds the record for most goals scored by a player in a single season of the Pro League.

Harmanpreet was also in terrific form at the Asian Champions Trophy Dhaka 2021, where he scored 8 goals in 6 games, scoring in every single game as India finished on the podium. His performances were also crucial to the Indian team as it won the silver medal at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Harmanpreet now becomes just the fourth player to win the Player of the Year award (men’s category) in consecutive years joining an elite list that includes Teun De Nooijer (Netherlands), Jamie Dwyer (Australia) and Arthur van Doren (Belgium). Harmanpreet’s total points tally stood at 29.4 points, followed by Thierry Brinkmann with 23.6 points and Tom Boon with 23.4 points.

Speaking on the occasion, Harmanpreet said “I am truly very humbled and honoured to have won the FIH Player of the Year Award 2021-22. This is a big moment for my career and I am really happy.”

“However, I must say that this award is not mine alone, even though it is an individual award, because without the help and support of my teammates, this would not have been possible in anyway at all. So, this is for the team.”

“Winning such a prestigious award motivates me to work harder on my game so that I can maintain the high levels regularly. Against Spain and New Zealand, my aim will be to carry out the orders and help execute the plans to perfection. Only then can we do well,” Harmanpreet said.

He added: “We are fully focussed on ensuring we do our best in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023. We have to improve our record in this tournament. Every team will be a very different and unique challenge, but we are doing our best to ensure the team is well prepared.”

“It has been a while since fans have been able to enjoy the games at the stadium, and I hope they have a great time in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023.”

At the age of 22, Felice Albers’ trophy cabinet is already filled to the brim. A serial winner, Albers has been a part of Dutch team in their gold medal winning campaigns in the FIH Hockey Pro League (2019 & 2020-21), Euro Hockey Championship 2021, Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup 2022. Now she gets to add another trophy to her cabinet: the FIH Player of the Year Award.

Albers broke into the Dutch national team in 2019, on the back of great performances at the junior level where she switched between midfield and attack. Since making her debut for the senior team she has primarily played as an attacking midfielder, playing at the base of the attack and involved in much of their offensive creativity. She also poses a serious goal-scoring threat to the opponents, scoring 16 goals in her 32 international appearances thus far.

Netherlands scored 42 goals in 16 games in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021-22, and 17 goals in 6 games at the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup Spain and Netherlands 2022, and Albers played a major role in their offensive output as the creator-in-chief of a stellar Dutch team that finished 2nd in the Pro League and won a third consecutive gold medal at the World Cup. Albers also put the finishing touches to Netherlands’ gold medal winning campaign, with one of the finest goals of the year.

With this win, Albers becomes the youngest winner of the FIH Player of the Year award (women’s category) since Germany’s Natascha Keller (1999) and second youngest ever, since the inception of the awards in 1998. Albers total points tally stood at 29.1 points, narrowly edging Maria Granatto (26.9 points), in one of the closest races of the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2021-22. Agustina Gorzelany finished in the 3rd place with 16.4 points.

Watch Felice Albers’ reaction on winning the Award