SPORTS NEWS
Lausanne, Switzerland (August 23, 2021):- The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is delighted to reveal the shortlists for the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21, with players, coaches, media and fans being able to register their votes for the nominees in the respective women’s and men’s Player, Goalkeeper, Rising Star and Coach of the Year categories from today (Monday 23 August).
With no Hockey Stars Awards in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 global health pandemic on the international calendar, this year’s awards cover the period from January 2020 through to the conclusion of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, meaning that the 2020-21 edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League has been very much taken into consideration. In another change from the norm, the Hockey Stars Awards nominations and voting will now take place around August and September of each calendar year going forward, moving away from its traditional December-January launch period.
The voting process for the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21 will remain open until Wednesday 15 September 2021, with the winners being announced in late September / early October 2021.
Votes from National Associations, represented by their respective national captains and coaches, will count for 50% of the overall result, while fans and players (25%) as well as media (25%) will make the other half of the votes.
List of Awards
FIH Player of the Year – Women & Men
FIH Goalkeeper of the Year - Women & Men
FIH Rising Star of the Year - Women & Men (Aged 21 or under on 31/12/2021)
FIH Coach of the Year - Women & Men
The shortlisted individuals in each category can be found below.
FIH Player of the Year Awards
Women: Agustina Albertarrio (ARG), Eva de Goede (NED), Agustina Gorzelany (ARG), Gurjit Kaur (IND), Frédérique Matla (NED), Maria Verschoor (NED)
Men: Tim Brand (AUS), Arthur van Doren (BEL), Alexander Hendrickx (BEL), Harmanpreet Singh (IND), Jake Whetton (AUS), Aran Zalewski (AUS)
FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Awards
Women: Maddie Hinch (GBR/ENG), Savita (IND), Belén Succi (ARG)
Men: Andrew Charter (AUS), Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh (IND), Vincent Vanasch (BEL).
FIH Rising Star of the Year Awards
Women: Fiona Crackles (GBR/ENG), Sharmila Devi (IND), Valentina Raposo (ARG)
Men: Mustaphaa Cassiem (RSA), Sean Findlay (NZL), Vivek Prasad (IND)
FIH Coach of the Year Awards
Women’s teams: Alyson Annan (AUS) – The Netherlands, Mark Hager (AUS) – Great Britain & England, Sjoerd Marijne (NED) – India
Men’s teams: Colin Batch (AUS) – Australia, Shane McLeod (NZL) – Belgium, Graham Reid (AUS) – India
FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21 - selection and voting process
Following the conclusion of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the nominee shortlist was agreed by an expert committee. This committee consisted of FIH Athletes Committee Chair Rogier Hofman, FIH Media Coordinator and journalist Sarah Juggins, Belgium Hockey High Performance Director Adam Commens (chosen for the role by his peers to represent high performance and coaching staff), as well as FIH Executive Board Member Maureen Craig-Rousseau, a member of the Jury of Appeal at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Voting
Votes from National Associations count for 50% of the overall result. Each NA will be granted two votes per gender, which will come from the national team captain and head coach.