It was held from the 27 March to 5 April 1981 at the CeNARD in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

[1] West Germany won the tournament for a second time, defeating the Netherlands 3–1 in penalties after the final finished as a 1–1 draw.

[2] The Soviet Union finished in third place after defeating Australia 5–1.

[3] Including the host nation, Argentina, 12 teams participated in the tournament:

The following are the squads of the three medalling nations, as well as fourth placed Australia:[5] 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.