Hockey - Team Spain

Nickname
The Red Sticks

General
Spain won their place at Tokyo 2020 through the 2019 Men's FIH Olympic Qualifiers, in which they defeated France 6-5 on aggregate in a two-leg series played in Valencia.

The Spanish team have competed at 17 editions of the Olympic Games since making their debut in 1928 in Amsterdam. They have lost three gold medal matches at the Olympic Games, suffering defeat to India in 1980, the Netherlands in 1996, and Germany in 2008. They have also lost two bronze medal matches, to Australia in 1964 and Germany in 2004. Their only victory in six Olympic medal-round games came at the 1960 Games in Rome, where they beat Great Britain 2-1 for bronze. At Rio 2016, Spain were defeated 2-1 by eventual gold medallists Argentina in the quarterfinals.

The Red Sticks have secured three podium finishes at the World Cup. They were runners-up in 1971 and 1998, and placed third in 2006. The team were ranked 13th at the 2018 World Cup after recording two draws and a defeat in the group phase. Spain won their lone Champions Trophy title in 2004 but lost the final to Australia in both 2008 and 2011.

Spain made a run to the final at the 2019 EuroHockey Championship, but following a 4-3 semifinal win over the Netherlands they were comfortably beaten 5-0 by Belgium in the final. The Spanish have won two continental titles, which came in 1974 and 2005.