Nations that dominate the rink hockey

Each roller sport is dominated by a few specific nations. In rink hockey, these are the Iberian peninsulas and South America. Explanations by Jean Lassueur...

Par Jean LASSUEUR
Publié le 23 novembre 2016 - Mis à jour le 3 novembre 2020 - 7782 Lectures - 0 commentaire(s)

Why do these countries dominate?

Some figures

In the men’s competition, Spain has won 16 titles in the world championships since 1958, Portugal 15.
Argentina is in third place with four titles, while Italy is in fourth place with one title less than Argentina.

The dominance of Spain and Portugal is quite obvious

In the women’s competition, it’s a slightly different situation. The world championships for them took only place since 1992, and since then Argentina and Spain have each won five titles. Chile (2006 in Santiago de Chile), Canada (1992 in Springe, Germany) and France (2012 in Recife, Brazil) have won the remaining three titles.

The reasons for this dominance

The infrastructure of the rink hockey arenas in Portugal, Spain and Argentina has a high priority on the tribunes for many spectators. Fans from these countries also often travel to games abroad with their teams. You could even say that rink hockey is the second national sport in Portugal.

This explains why these countries are able to show such an excellent performance, in spite of the women’s surprises in 2012, when France won, or the in the men’s in 2014, when Italy won the title.

In Argentina, the main bases are in the region of Mendoza and San Juan. There is a huge variety of different rink hockey clubs. San Juan is therefore known as the « Mecca of the rink hockey ».

In Europe, the Portuguese organize most of the European Cups and CERS Cups. Mainly Portuguese and Spanish clubs participate in those events.

In the social media, the countries just mentioned are most influential and strongest.