Under Alyson, China’s won Paris Olympics silver and qualified for 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup.
Last week, the enthusiastic Chinese women’s hockey squad head coach, Alyson Annan, was declared FIH Women’s Coach of the Year 2025. Under Alyson’s tutelage, the Chinese women’s hockey team has made remarkable progress. They won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics and have emerged as an Asian powerhouse. China’s women’s team will be one to watch at the 2026 Asian Games.
Earlier in September, the Chinese team defeated India to emerge champions at the Asia Cup on home turf, further proving that the podium finish in Paris wasn’t a fluke.
The Chinese women’s hockey team did a commendable job by finishing fourth in the 2024–2025 FIH Pro League season.
Australian coach Alyson has overseen one of the most amazing transformations in international hockey over the past few years, as under her stewardship, the Chinese women’s team continues to go from strength to strength. “The Chinese women’s side produced remarkable results throughout the FIH Hockey Pro League as well as the Women’s Asia Cup Gongshu 2025,” the FIH website stated.
India, once a continental powerhouse, finished at the bottom of the prestigious league table and was relegated to the FIH second-tier league for the 2025–2026 season. The Indian women’s hockey team didn’t qualify for the Paris Olympic Games after finishing fourth at the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2021 in Japan.
India and China will certainly clash for the title at the Asian Games. The winner will get an automatic berth to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. India will have a lot of catching up to do if they harbour hopes of beating China.
By winning the 2025 Asia Cup on home turf China defeated India to directly qualify for next year’s FIH World Cup in Europe. “The Asia Cup was tough,” Alyson was quoted as saying after securing direct World Cup entry at the Asia Cup in China.
The Indian women’s hockey team, under chief women’s national coach Harendra Singh, will have to go through a more grinding route next year to achieve World Cup entry. The Indian coach has a tough task at hand, as he will also have to focus on the Asian Games.
This year’s award was Alyson’s sixth FIH Coach of the Year award. She also has the honour of holding the former FIH Player of the Year (1998 & 2000) award. On the men’s side the honour went to Spanish team coach Max Caldas.
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