[1] Pakistan were the inaugural World Cup winners, beating Spain in the final, 1–0.

The teams were divided into two groups for five each, with the top two proceeding to the semi-finals after the round-robin stage.

Gold medalists at the 1968 Olympics, Pakistan, were grouped in 'B' alongside runners-up Australia, and Spain, the Netherlands and Japan.

Group 'A' included Argentina, France, India, Kenya and West Germany.

[3] Pakistan Muhammad Aslam, Akhtar ul Islam, Munawwar uz Zaman, Jahangir Butt, Riaz Ahmed, Fazal ur Rehman, Khalid Mahmood, Ashfaq Ahmed, Abdul Rashid, Islahuddin Siddiquee, Shahnaz Sheikh, Muhammad Asad Malik [citation needed] Spain Luis Twose, Antonio Nogués (sub Jamie Amat), Francisco Segura, Juan Amat, Francisco Fábregas Bosch, Jorge Fábregas, Vicente Llorach, Juan Quintana, Francisco Amat, José Sallés, Agustín Masaña[citation needed] As per statistical convention in field hockey, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.