A hurricane of sound rushes through Amstelveen as the players of Pakistan and India enter the field for the fiercest and most notorious rivalry in international hockey. The volume possibly rises even further after the national anthems have been played.
At most afternoon matches at the World Cup, there are still plenty of seats available, but on this Wednesday afternoon there is almost no seat left free. Thousands of people want to witness the match won by India 5-3. Matches between India and Pakistan are always charged, for both sporting and political reasons.
350 million
First of all, the sporting rivalry. Pakistan and India are countries with a gigantic hockey history. In the sixties and seventies, they together divided almost all world and Olympic titles in the sport, which had been brought to South Asia by the British during colonial times.
Hockey World Cup live on NOS
The Hockey World Cup can be watched live on NOS from August 15 to 30. All matches of the Dutch men and women are live on TV, in the NOS app, and on NOS.nl.
"When India goes far in a tournament or plays against a rival, about 350 million people watch the hockey team," says Roelant Oltmans, who has been head coach of both the Indians and Pakistanis. "It is a huge sport in both countries."
"The rivalry between the two is very big. Off the field it is nowadays very respectful between the players, but during a match it really goes hard against hard. There is one match at the World Cup that both countries do not want to lose, and that is this one. If Pakistan would win, the whole tournament would already be a success for them."
That also has to do with the political and military history of the neighboring countries. For decades, conflicts flare up from time to time, for example over territorial claims on the state of Kashmir. This regularly leads to larger and smaller escalations between the countries, with a terrorist attack occurring relatively recently.
South Asia correspondent: 'Arrested if you openly cheer for the other side'
"Tensions between India and Pakistan are not limited to politics; they are also visible during sports matches," says South Asia correspondent Devi Boerema. "In both countries, fans are sometimes arrested if they openly cheer for the opponent. That is seen as a threat to domestic security."
"On the field, how athletes interact varies greatly per discipline. Since the terrorist attack in Kashmir in 2025, Indian cricket players, for example, refuse to shake hands with Pakistani players. They do this out of respect for the victims of that attack. According to India, Pakistan is behind that attack."
"Fan reactions are divided on this. Sometimes it causes commotion, especially online, that the national teams are not all united. But there is also certainly a strong voice among Indian fans that sport and politics should be separated."
In Amstelveen, it quickly becomes clear that the players, as they had announced beforehand, are not willing to bring the political disputes onto the blue artificial turf. Just like the spectators in the stands, they respectfully remain silent during each other's national anthems and 'just' give each other high fives before the match begins.
In the match, refereed by the Dutchman Jonas van 't Hek, there is no equal fight. Although India (eighth) on the world ranking is only a few places higher than Pakistan (twelfth), the differences in strength are enormous. Within a few minutes, it is already 2-0.
Elite sports program
Oltmans had already predicted that. He was head coach of India from 2013 to 2017 and in three periods of Pakistan. He notes that the hockey programs in both countries are incomparable.
"India really has a good elite sports program in the national training center. There the boys train more than three hundred days a year. The Pakistani team comes together three weeks before a major event and that is it. Sometimes they have entire periods without anything."
"That mainly has to do with money," Oltmans explains. "In both countries, hockey is the second sport after cricket. But in Pakistan there is simply less money and also little political stability. If no money comes from the government, you cannot set up anything structural."
The Pakistan team of Dutch head coach Bob Veldhof fights back somewhat with two successful penalty corners, to the euphoria of the Pakistani fans in the stadium, but cannot prevent a defeat. It becomes 5-3 for India, where star player Harmanpreet Singh excels.
With that, Pakistan is eliminated in a sensitive way at the World Cup. The Indian hockey players may continue to dream of their first world title since 1975.