Argentina’s Night in Doha: Cairó and Domene Crowned FIH Players of the Year

Argentina didn’t just win the women’s World Cup this year. On Friday night in Doha, they turned it into a clean sweep of the individual honours too.

Sofía Cairó is the FIH Women’s Player of the Year. Las Leonas’ midfield engine ran the show through the march to the World Cup title in Amstelveen, then scored the shoot-out goal that beat the Netherlands in the final and sealed Argentina’s third world crown. These awards are decided by moments as much as seasons, and she owned the biggest one of the summer. Xan de Waard and Charlotte Englebert were on the shortlist, but a winning penalty in a World Cup final is hard to argue with.

Her teammate Cristina Cosentino took Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year for the same night’s work, seen from the other end. Sixty minutes of keeping the Dutch at bay, then three shoot-out stops to close out the 3-1 win. When a final goes to a shoot-out, the keeper who wins it usually wins this. Simple as that.

And Argentina’s future looks sorted as well. Zoë Díaz, 20 years old, is the Women’s Rising Star of the Year — for the second time, after first winning it as an 18-year-old in 2024. She became a Las Leonas mainstay in the 2024-25 Pro League and played fearless, high-press hockey through the knockout rounds of the World Cup. The conveyor belt isn’t slowing down.

The men’s Player of the Year was the easiest call of the night. Tomás Domene scored 21 goals in the Pro League and 10 more at the World Cup, finishing top scorer in both, and was named best player of the World Cup after dragging Los Leones to their second-ever men’s World Cup medal — a bronze. Tom Boon and Justus Weigand were the other names on the shortlist, but for our money nobody else was close. When a striker does that in a World Cup year, the vote’s a formality.

Spain’s Luis Calzado is the Men’s Goalkeeper of the Year, and it’s the fairest story of the evening. Spain’s run to the final was the shock of the men’s tournament, and Calzado was the reason for it — save after save through the knockouts, almost nothing conceded from open play, and in the end a 1-0 defeat to Germany that still delivered Spain’s first-ever men’s World Cup silver. A keeper who takes his country somewhere it’s never been earns the trophy.

Germany’s men got their night too, in the categories that mattered to them. Justus Warweg won Men’s Rising Star after becoming an attacking-midfield fixture for the world champions in the Pro League and scoring twice as Germany defended their crown unbeaten. And André Henning took Men’s Coach of the Year for guiding the Honamas to back-to-back World Cup titles — the 1-0 win over Spain was Germany’s fourth world championship, and his cabinet already holds a EuroHockey gold and an Olympic silver.

On the women’s sideline, Alyson Annan did what Alyson Annan does. Women’s Coach of the Year, for a record-extending seventh time, after turning China into a side that keeps beating the world’s top-ranked nations. She remains the only former FIH Player of the Year — she won it in 1998 and 2000 — to also win Coach of the Year. There’s dominance, and then there’s this.

The officials got their due as well. Scotland’s Sarah Wilson was named Women’s Umpire of the Year, her third after 2017 and 2022, following her appointment to the women’s World Cup final. New Zealand’s Gareth Greenfield took the men’s award after handling the men’s final.

Congress week brought its own honours beyond the Stars awards: the FIH President’s Award went to Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, Andrés de Witt and Patrick Keusters, Argentina’s federation picked up the Theo Ykema Award, Poland’s association took the René G. Frank Super Fair Play Trophy, and the hosting certificate went to the Qatar Olympic Committee.

So that’s the roll of honour for 2026. Argentina’s women converted a World Cup into four individual awards, Germany’s men defended everything that mattered, and the Pro League restarts on 8 December with the winners walking in wearing the labels of the world’s best. See you there.

Related: Hockey Stars Awards 2026 preview, FIH Congress in Doha, Rankings, Live Centre.