Sport > World > Lists > All Time Greatest > Field Hockey

We are compiling a list of the greatest athletes from the sport of field hockey, which will then be voted on and the winner placed on the shortlist of the all time greatest athlete ever (all sports). The first stage is to get nominations for field hockey before the vote is started. See the current list below of top athletes, compiled using other published lists and visitor feedback. The list includes both male and female players. If you believe that there is someone missing from this list, please send a message, including any relevant details about the person.

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Is it Major Dhyan Chand?

Major Dhyan Chand may well be the greatest hockey players ever. I don't understand why so many comments are asking for him to be excluded from this list - if he really is the greatest, then he needs to be on a list of greatest players ever, and possibly on the top of this list! The greatest recent player is Australian Jamie Dwyer, winner of the FIH international player of the year five times.

Field Hockey Greatest Players

The athletes below are listed in alphabetical order - once the shortlist is complete then you will be able to vote for who you think is the greatest of all. This list is not complete - if you know of someone who should be listed here, let us know using the comment form below.

Males

Females

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Related Pages

• Profiles of legendary field hockey players
• More about field hockey
• All time greatest index of sports
• Other sport specific lists

Old Comments

Commenting is closed on this page, though you can read some previous comments below which may answer some of your questions.

• Every player has its merits and demerits. Read others comments also rather than arguing this or that player is the best.  I read about Mohammad Shabaz, and many more all are the best in their way. (kalpana, Oct 2021)
• Who is Dhyaanchand & Why he is Legend

1) Before Independence When INDIA went on a Tour, INDIA Won 3 Olympic Gold medals in Hockey. In Olympic Games We Played 48 Games and Wins all of them.!

2) INDIA was Unbeatable in Hockey for 20 years. We defeated America in all the matches and since than America banned Hockey for the Next Few Years. Can you imagine what an achievement it was.!

3) Shree Dhyaanchand was among those Who made Hitler his Fan and He requested to accept Germany Citizenship and play for Germany & in return he will get as much as Money and a he will be head of his Army.! but He refused saying he does not play for money but for Country.!

4) How he made Hitler his fan..? When he went to Germany for Hockey World Cup he was injured by Germany Goal Keeper.! In return he Ordered his Team mates to take revenge..! Can you imagine someone challenging Germany citizen in front of Hitler..! He by passed the ball from Goal keeper but didn't do a Goal., This was the biggest shame for Germany and Hitler was impressed by his answer..!

5) There was a match When he didn't Score a Single Goal. On this he argued with match refree that the Goal post length is short because I can't do a Goal. This was found correct and goal post length was increased & latter he scored 8 goals..!

6) HE WAS THE ONLY INDIAN WHO HOISTED INDIAN FLAG BEFORE INDEPENDENCE NOT ONLY IN INDIA BUT IN GERMANY..! WE WERE RULED BY BRITISHERS AND NOT ALLOWED TO TVAKE OUT FLAG BUT HE HIDE THAT IN HIS NIGHT DRESS AND TOOK IT TO GERNANY. IT REQUIRES A LOT OF GUTS.! ON THIS BRITISHERS ANNOUNCED IMPROSENMENT BUT HITLER DIDN'T LET THIS HAPPEN.!

7) He was offered a Coach Post by America and Germany but he refused and he said I will be the coach for ur team than India will be no more champion

8) Finally Cricket Icon Sir Don Bradman said "I'm a fan of Dhyaanchand & he scores Goals more easily than I Score runs.!"

MORE THAN 50 COUNTRIES HAVE AWARDED HIM WITH MORE THAN 400 AWARDS. THIS IS BEFORE INDEPENDENCE, WHAT A STRUGGL Real hero named Major DhyaanChand.

HATTS OFF SIR.... (from Mukesh, 2013)

• Dilip Mukesh(2018)
  And there was a time where Britain called themselves out fearing their loss from their colonial country-India. He played barefooted in Germany has the Germans had over-sprinkled the field because they knew Indians wore cheap shoes. All credits to the man who his country abandoned during his final moments - DHYAAN CHAND THE WIZARD. He even has a statue of him in Vienna with four hands and four sticks attributing to his mastery of the game.
• A.Nick (2013)
  Its always difficult to compare sportsmen that played in different eras. For sure guys like Mortiz Furste and Dwyer are great modern day players, but someone like Shahbaz Ahmad was the top sportsman all throughout the 90s, and is still held in high-esteem around the world. I would go with Shahbaz Ahmed.
• Mukesh (2013)
  At the time of Dyanchand India and pakistan were 1 nation and his most fans Belongd to Lahore, Karachi and Punjab in 67 yrs how the mind can change it I don't understand dyanchand was inspiration to shabaz Ahmed and sohail Abbas because of dyanchand game they learned the hockey Legend will be Legend and that is Dyyanchand no own else
• Andrew (2013)
  I think our Indian friends treat Dhayan as God as their usual Hobby.However we have to keep the fact in our mind that Dhayan playes hockey when this sports was not popular in whole world... only few nations were playing hockey at that and India was dominating nation among these few nations. He was playing hockey with a long hockey ( completely different from what we see now) and with this stick dribbling was much easier. If you look at his few available videos, you will be surprised to see that there is no movement of body while doing dribbling. So i would say looking at all videos available for us to compare, Shabaz Ahmed is number one . At present, Jamie Dwyer is number one for sure.
• Dreamsneednolabel Andrew (2013)
  By that logic Don Bradman should not be considered the greatest batsman in Cricket, because cricket was played only in few countries that time- basically it was played between only Australia & England. Other nations hardly ever got chance to play. Dhyan Chand's records, the distance with which he was indisputable number one (of his time) makes him the best candidate for the title of greatest of all time. In future hockey, the surface, sticks might all change & the game may look very different from what it is today but that should be no reason to truncate the greatness of say, Jamie Dwyer. It's always difficult to compare greats of different era. But in some sports there happen to be one player who towers so far ahead of others in his time that he is considered the greatest ever. Dhyan Chand is the one for field hockey.
• Sunil Dreamsneednolabel (2013)
  I totally agree with Dreamsneednolabel's point. Its really hard to compare the players of different era. Just look into their records when they played. like medals, goals and other criterias. Even in football also the ground, ball, the rules everything changed compare to 1950, but still Pele and Maradona are top like them Dhyan Chand is all time star in hockey. Compare to this generation, the old people all are very energetic and technically strong.
• Shubham Andrew (2013)
  Consider this fact: If a team during Dhyan Chand's Reign lost to India by a margin of 5 goals that team would be considered a brilliant team!
• Ashish Shubham (2015)
  well said. Wining 3 world cups and defeating all the great teams of world that time is no small feat. Major Saab is the best !
• THE BRAIN Andrew (2014)
  May be U dont know enough about past so please.. And there was not a lot deffernce in number of teams... There was 8 teams, and today there is 12.. So not a lot difference..
  Well First read about Dhayan chand... He was one man army... He was captain of 3 time Olympic winning team .. He scored 8 goal in a match india vs USA and india won by 24:1
  He scored 33 goals in 12 Olympic match..
  Hattrick in final match..
  Also he scored 133 goal in one year (37 match)
  Olympic 1928 india vs Netherlands ( india won by 3:0) he scored 14 goals in 5 match
  Olympic 1932 india vs USA ( india won by 24:1) he scored 8 goals in final match
  Olympic 1936 India vs germany (india won by8:1)
  (Hitler was watching the final )
  He also scored 3 goales in last 4 min in a match in which he was played as substitute
  Thats why He is called the Magician of Hockey
  Thats why he is considered the greatest player.
• Vikas Andrew (2014)
  Dude.. You take more longer hockey stick and go play hockey.. I think you might beat sir Dhyan Chand's record..
• Ajay Andrew (2013)
  few nations? 1,2,3 or what don't comment with half baked facts and this shows your nursery knowledge in field hockey,usa,nazi germany,uk,e.t.c olympics will not be conducted for 1 or 2 teams.he is nicknamed as 'wizard' after defeating nazi germany by 8-1 hitler offered him field marshal post and play for germany but he politely refused.he has scored more than 400 goals during his career.during his reign india defeated usa with 24-1 the world record for largest margin
• Ramesh Singh ajay (2013)
  In fact, according to the BBC, he scored over 1,000 goals in a career spanning 22 years from 1926-1948.
• Kimberley Rae Andrew (2018)
  I don't know why you guys are arguing when Luciana Aymar is clearly the best among the lot! She's the best player field hockey has ever seen!
• Daisy (2014)
  And it can be clearly seen through the comments that only Indians are supporting ghyan chand because of their patriotic biasness(its okay Indians never really play fair do they? ) but Pakistani player ahahbaz is being supported by all the people of the world! Captain and a part of two world cup winning team is definitely the best there is....
• Mark daisy (2014)
  i am not Indian. But i still agree dhayan chand is the best field hockey players. i have seen indians play and they do not cheat.
• Nigah Hussain mark (2018)
  (Indians not cheat) this is the jock of centuries just watch 2nd last Hockey Championship when they play against Pakistan and then what they din with Pakistan after losing semi. and drink some water it will bring you back to conscious I believe.
• Andy (2013)
  Having not had the privilege of seeing any clips of Dhayan Chand, I say Shabaz Ahmed Snr is the greatest,among many great players
• Julian (2019)
  There is only one GOAT.. Dyand Chand..
  He beats Bradman, Pele, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan etc. From other sports too.
  Why? Here is the reasoning..
  1.Won 3 gold medals as captain. Could have won more but due to world war 2 there was no Olympics in 1940, 1944.
  Anyone has won 3 golds? Don't think so..
  2. Scored 101 goals in Olympics.. No one is closed to this mark, not even half way..
  3. Has a statue in Vienna Austria.. Not talking about India
  4. His stick was broken to check magnet in Holland..
  How good was he for this to happen. Legendary .
  5. Embarrassed Hitler and Nazi Germany beating so called Aryan Nazis at home.. Extra points for that..
  German newspaper said their is magic show in stadium, magician is guess who?
  6. Don Bradman said about him, he scores goals like runs.. That is best compliment coming from non Indian best cricketer.
  7. Scored 400+ International goals.. Show me a player with half of this goals and I will concede Dhyan chand is not greatest.
• Many people will argue Dhyan chand was old era, but he excelled in that era he was dominant with no competition.. So if we are talking of All Time u can't ignore this legend...
  He died peniless, but one thing we can't take away is his greatness.
  - Julian
• Harnam khaira (2014)
  Dhyan Chand - please do not ignore the context - he was not richest with lots of time on hand like players from the first world countries he was not strongest like Africans, he was not care-free like some whose bills got paid by others and had no worries about food and shelter - he was simply committed and hard-worker who fine-tuned his skills under the chand (moon). He has no parallel and no one can be compared with him.
• Manj Gill (2018)
  Sandeep Singh (flicker Singh) for his come back after being shot and paralysed
• Kimberley Rae (2018)
  No one's better than Luciana Aymar. Stop arguing people!
• Shoaib Syed (2018)
  If Dhanraj pillay is there than sohail abbas, waseem ahmed, Mansoor ahmed, Shakeel abbasi, shenaz sheikh and a dozen other should be there, personally even Shahbaz junior was better than dhanraj pillay and i wont consider him above top 50 players from pakistan
• Mukaram (2017)
  Manzoor Junior is the best ever player with fintastic body dodges, intelligent game planner, driblling......simply best. Highest gold medalist in the field hockey.
• Amanda Nemaric (2016)
  Chand and Annan
• T n dubey (2015)
  world has seen two magicians of hockey. no.1)without any doubt was Major Dhyanchand. but 2nd name may be unknown to most. 2)He is Inamur rehman from Bhopal who played for India in sixties.Those who saw him playing can only realised this.
• K.Sekhar (2015)
  No arguments please. It is Dhyan Chand. It should be Dhyan Chand. Dhyan Chand alone.
• Mnmnmn (2014)
  Rob Hill (UK) - Complete domestic player and always scoring goals, possibly the greatest short corner taker of all time? Possibly the best left half too... Outstanding player for Havant and UK.
• Usman (2014)
  Where is SOHAIL ABBAS (highest goal scorer in history of field hockey)!
  from pakistan
• JAFAR CC (2014)
  who tells that dhyan chand is not the legend of hockey，he is the legend ever awards do not ditermine the best,history ditermine it
• Preet gagan Singh (2014)
  Balbir Singh senior is a greatest field hockey player from India, who was a member of three Olympic gold medal winning teams, in London (1948), Helsinki (1952) (Vice Captain) and Melbourne (1956) (Captain).[2] His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten.[3] Singh set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6-1 victory over the Netherlands in the gold medal game of the 1952 Olympic Games. He is often called Balbir Singh Senior to distinguish him from other Indian hockey players named Balbir Singh. Singh was the Manager and Chief Coach of the Indian team for the 1975 Men's Hockey World Cup, which India won. During the London Olympics in 2012, Singh was honoured in the Olympic Museum exhibition, "The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games" held at the Royal Opera House. The exhibition told the story of the Olympic Games from its creation in 776BC through to the London 2012 Olympic Games. He was one of the 16 iconic Olympians chosen whose example "tells of human strength and endeavour, of passion, determination, hard work and achievement and demonstrates the values of the Olympic Movement".
• Gary preet gagan Singh (2014)
  yes balbir singh sr was comparable to dhyan chand although he himself will never acknowledge it . Some of the goals scored by him are the best in the game ever but were never recorded. He was the sumtotal of dhyanchand hassan sardar ric charlesworth and Shahbaz sr in field hockey .Although iam personally afan of shahbaz sr .
• 1.dhyan chand(god of hockey) 2.roop singh 3.shahbaz senior 4dhanraj pillai and jamie dwyer 5.ric charlsworth 6.sardar and mortiz 7.hassan sardar the one who says abt the black and white era on grass he should know that they played with half blade sticks and that was the way the played u try to play with those sticks and on grass u will come to know abt it (from abhishek manidhar, mar 2013)
• Shahbaz and hasan  sardar were  all time greatest player in the world (from mehdi, Mar 2013)
• Dhyan chand is and will b the best player on this universe. another one is roop singh hats off to both these players and to all those people who commented on turf and grass plz brush up ur knowledge and common sense ok no comparison DHYAN CHAND is d best (from shauz, Mar 2013)
• How about udham singh khullar i think he was the greatest player ever (from M sangha, Mar 2013)
• Dhyan chand no one else is even miles near to him ok
• Dwyer and Aymar are the best male and female players of all time. It isn't really something to be discussed. Some Indian players hold remarkable records for Olympic games, however, they were typically competing against much weaker sides, as the rest of the world had occupied their athletes in WWI and WWII - Their 24-1 victory over the USA highlights this.
• Shahbaz sr is a hockey king he is hockey legend he is hockey superstar for ever. (from ubashetr, Feb 2013)
• It should be like ... many will disagree but thats ok!:-). n yeah other may be great but dhyanchand is legend legend.,he gave ths game a life for forever (from atul anand, Feb 2013)
  • 1- dhyanchand (the legend of game luk at his Olympics records n per match scores)
  • 2- Mohammed Shahid (amazing n inspiration to many)
  • 3- Jamie Dwyer (current magician)
  • 4- SOHAIL ABBAS (a scoring bomb)
  • 5- Richard Allen (dn't forget golies)
  • 6. SHAHBAZ AHMED (as good as hockey)
• Miguel de Paz, he was amazing! The provlem he didnt win anything international?
• Jamie Dwyer or god as I call him is the best player ever (from Kara, Jan 2013)
• When people say hockey!! the only person comes to ma mind is none other than Dhyan chand. Today both in india and pakistan cricket is the most popular game but the game which ruled the Olympic world hockey is becomin extinct due this popular game so let up see that hockey is gon na make its come back:-) (from karthikreddy, Jan 2013)
• It's funny you are comparing old hockey player with recent hockey player. In Old days hockey was played on natural grass and now a days it is played on artificial or synthetic grass, now a days hockey is more quick and needs more stamina. I never saw dayan chand or other you people mentioning, but just go to youtube and search for any of the old player specially the black and white era and u will laugh what they are doing very slow and no body is tackling no body trying to intercept to me who ever is greatest it should be after the hockey shifted to artificial grass (from Lord Windz, Jan 2013)
• When we r looking for the greatest player in field hockey then we must atlest saw them while playing hockey. No matter either u saw them in videos or playing lively in the field. here is a comparision of dhyanchand vs GREAT SHAHBAZ AHMED.in my opinion there is no comparision of both b coz SHAHBAZ AHMED is far better and superior player than dhynchand. it might possible dhyanchand is a good player in his team but as for as the complete arena of field hockey is concerned SHAHBAZ AHMED is far greatest player than dyhanchand. in the time of dhyanchand field hockey was very slow and the persons who play that kind of hockey were not super fit but at the time of shahbaz it has become supersonic game and a person who is mentally physically fit can play this format of hockey.otherwise he will be out of lime light in a very short period of time so it a useless debate that who is  ever greatest players of field hockey. there is no question that SHAHBAZ is the ONLY GREATEST Player in field hockey. lastly i want to say one thing that if dhyanchand could see SHAHBAZ while playing hockey, he definitely exclude his name from the greatest player list. (from dr. bilal, Jan 2013)
• Where is shehnaz sheikh, Akhter Rasool and other pakistani players upto mid 80s? (from AK, Jan 2013)
• Shakeel abassi is the best
• Is it a joke ... !!!!! Dhyan Chand is perhaps the best ever to grace any sport greater even than Pele ...,Bradman Tendulkar ... tiger woods (from Shubham, Dec 2012)
• : Dhyaaaaaaaaaaaaan all the way, he was a legend,a man admired by Hitler,acknowledged by Bradman,celebrated by the world and worshipped by the subcontinent.His dr ibbling skills defies the three laws of motion and the  hand eye synchronization was upto absolute perfection.He was a man who used to practice his skills at night under the light of moon.Once he was unable to score after tremendous efforts,he argued about the dimentions of the sidepost to the refree and by surprise it was found to be shorter as compared to the standard field .dimentions. (from vinod, Dec 2012)
• Dhyan Chand all the way!!! Miles ahead of rest of the pack!!! (from shafait Hussain, Dec 2012)
• Shahbaz ahmed senior ... the most entertaining player (from M.hamza ramay, Dec 2012)
• Jamie Dwyer was da best last season ... n a suggest that u should also check at our best African players we feel neglected (from RASHID FELIX KIP, Nov 2012)
• You have not mentioned one keeper - I propose Ian Taylor of GB who,was without doubt the best until  the early 90's. I have not seen any since who can match is reactions and in an age wherebkitnwas heavy and unflexible he was truly outstanding (from Loudy, Oct 2012)
• Shebaz ahmed is better than everyone nobody match his skills (from babar ali, Oct 2012)
• Islahuddin is the greatest hockey player of all time (from Ahmed, Oct 2012)
• Manzoor hussain junior is best player ever in field of hocky he must not  compair with any other player (from asif ramzan, Sept 2012)
• First look ur face in d mirror. This voting is not to scale the greatness of DHYAN CHAND. if who knw about his playing & humanity he is the legend of hockey. No more question.. He is the greatest ... Best love u dhyanchand (from Subbu, guntur, andhrapradesh, Sept 2012)
• No discuss, Dhyan Chand was a magic player of the hockey in all over the world. (from Deepak Kumar Kashyap, Sept 2012)
• Mark Knowles
• Loved watching the Pakistan team of the 70s and 80s. Alot of great players, but the one that stands out for me is Manzoor Jr. He had the best combination of skill, quickness and intelligence I have ever seen in a player. He was quarterback of the Pak forward line. Shabhaz is 2nd, followed by Charlesworth. (from Fred from UK, Aug 2012)
• Question less, shahbaz ahemd senios was the all time great player of field hockey. he, who inspired the whole world with his supreme play of hockey. shahbaz is the real ambassador of hockey in world, who attract the people to hockey for 15 years with his golden game. (from iftikhar aamir, 22 Aug 2012)
• Ok, Dyand Chand is the God of Hockey. Shahbaz senior is the most exciting player of all time. (from GEORGE ISAAC, 22 Aug 2012)
• Jamie Dwyer, without a doubt (from Patrick, Aug 2012)
• dhyan chand is the best player ... still no one in the world is able to compare with him ... he is known as the god of hockey so plzz dhyan chand should at first place (from akshay, Aug 2012)
• There is no one comparable to DhyanChand..He represented the Indian Team before partition and scored more than 400 international goals ... In that way he can be considered best player ever produced by India and Pakistan (from Hockey Fan.., Aug 2012)
• There cannot be a comparison ... Only two kinds of players in the world ... Dhyan Chand & all the others ... Decide only who is the second best among past & present ... No.1 is fixed forever for 'The Wizard' ...
• Please don't compare Dyan Chand with Shehbaz Snr ... Dyan is only known in India.. Shehbaz is admired all over the world for his outstanding field hockey skills. (from ramal khan, Aug 2012)
  • To the man who is saying Dhyan Chand is only known in India & Shehbaz Snr is the best ... PLZ B** go to wikipedia & compare the information & concern over these 2 players ... Dyan Chand had scored over  1000 goals, there is his statue in Austria, a train station on his name in London, he was offered to become the Colonel by Hitlor, three gold medals in Olympic & once Don Bradman said he score goals like runs in cricket ... He is the GREATEST of all times ... !!!!!!!!!! (from Vishal Sharma, 13 Aug 2012)
• W0w n0b0dy said anything about the worlds leading goal scorer SOHAIL ABBAS ... he should be in there (from Mohsin, Aug 2012)
• The game has evolved over time ... from ground to the strategy of the team sports. It's easy to compare individual performance these days because of technology and statistics. In the past we had only statistics, for eg try to find a video of dhyan chand game on net and you will have nothing much. So all of us have zero exposure to the his talent. All we are aware of is his achievements in the field. In considerations of his relative achievement in the game during his time and number of goals he is the greatest ever in the game. No other player has achieved anything even close to what he achieved during his era. And if hitler wanted him to represent Germany then you can bet he was best of all time. (from DivakarS Singh, Aug 2012)
• Dhyan Chand tops all ... the rest follow yards behind (from Bikash, Aug 2012)
• In statistics, Teun de Nooijer is the best player of all. He played in 5 Olympics, won gold 2 times and one time silver, won the worldcup in 1998 and won silver in 1994, won the champions trophy 4 times and became 3 times the best player in the world. (which no player has achieved before.) and won the European championship once. He became the MVP in the euro hockey league in 2009. No player has ever matched his medals, so therefore he must be the best! The only reason he isn't on this list is because he is still playing. (from Reinier, July 2012)
• Hassan Sardar is the best player with a style to watch. His conversion rate was par excellance. Within seconds, he can tear apart any defense to score goals. He was a treat to watch. (from Shahid Abbas, July 2012)
• For me It has to be SOHAIL ABBAS. The HIGHEST GOALS SCORER 345 and 21 Hatricks (from Cheema, July 2012)
• You cannot avoid the best ever goalie of Field Hockey ... Richard Allen ... He was the goal keeper of Indian Olympic team which won the 1928,1932, & 1936 gold Medals. In all three Olympics he just allowed 2 goals!!! Isn't it great (from Bibin Xavier, July 2012)
• Major dhyan chand was the greatest player to whom this world has ever seen (from anuj saxena dehra dun, July 2012)
• Shahbaz Ahmed (Sr.) you are the best ... (from Wasim, July 2012)
• Dhyan Chand is the best. but where are Roop Singh, Deepak Thakur, Prabhjot, Gagan Ajit singh,KD Singh Babu and more. I think this list do not deserve Major Dhyan Chand he was far more better then the others. (from Abhishek Manidhar, July 2012)
• "HOCKEY WIZARD" major DHYAN CHAND deserves the first place (from deepak, July 2012)
• Shehbaz Snr he is the greatest player in the world ever. (from SHAH, July 2012)
• Golden Player "Manzoor Junior". (from Aleem Ahmed, June 2012)
• My vote is for the great Manzoor Junior. (from Asif Bajwa, June 2012)
• Samiullah,hassan sardar,shahbaz senior,dhan raj pillay,jan bovlander, micheal philip are best of best (from Rashid Latif, June 2012)
• Any one heard of Teun Denooijer? He might well be the best hockey player ever :-) and I don't see him in that list? (from Thierry, June 2012)
• Definitely it should be Major Dhyanchand of India .Probably one of the greatest sportsperson, leave aside Hockey alone (from ajay, May 2012)
• Shahbazsenior is the best player i have ever seen (fom mirza, May 2012)
• Pls remove Major Dhyan Chand from this list.He is the greatest player of all time and actually deserves a spot in the list of greatest sportsmen of all time.During 1936 Olympics, there were posters all over Berlin: Visit the hockey stadium to watch the Indian magician Dhyan Chand in action. (from sameer, April 2012)
• THE LIST IS NOT FAIR .. INCLUDE ROOP SINGH in the list as well .. BUT EXCLUDE DHYAN CHAND FROM ANY LIST ..HE DESERVES BETTER PLACE THAN THIS LIST :) (from shail, April 2012)
• It's foolish to ask this question. It's like asking "Does the Universe exist ?" "Of course it does" "Of course,the greatest player is Major Dhyan Chand ! & there's no doubt about it." Every one knows it ! Major Dhyan Chand was a Universal player & played for the love of the game. He would have represented Earth in Inter-Galactic Hockey Matches. The ball would stick to his Hockey stick. He was a true Magician, he was HUMONGOUS & was Magnificient. (from Navin Mondal,Mumbai, April 2012)
• DHYAN CHAND IS THE GOD OF HOCKEY ... he is the best no one can match him (from srk, March 2012)
• Please nt mention DHYAN CHAND in this list ... he is GOD  of hockey,once while playing in germany one lady asked him to play with her walking sticks and he not only played with it but also scored goal with it ... so there was not player like him and will be not too ... not only a player but he was a great human being to ... coz players of these days run after money and fame..he declined the offer of HITLER  to join German team and a post of MARSHAL ... SO if u putting DHAYN CHAD on this list its a great insult for the legend (from vivek, Jan 2012)
• In my opinion field hockey had never seen a greater player than Shajbaz Ahmed (senior). I think he is the only person in this sport to be honored as Best Player Ever (from Tauheed Akhtar, Jan 2012)
• No one but the Dhyan Chand deserves this title .. (from hockey freak, Dec 2011)
• Please put Dhyan Chand out of these rankings. To put him in the bracket of this list is not justifiable. There is just no comparison between him and others! There wasn't and can never be any player to come even close to this guy ! Only other name that one could think of that had a dominance in sport that rivals that of Dhyan Chand is of Sir Donald Bradman in field of cricket who himself stated on dhyan chand "he scores goals like runs" (from Aditya Singh, Nov 2011)
• There shouldn't even be a discussion on this topic ... there was/is only one player that qualifies for this title - Dhyan Chand! (from Truth!, Oct 2011)
• Habibur rehman centre forward of 1952,1956 Olympic was the DHAYAN CHAND of his time. he should also be included as one of the greatest player from PAKISTAN (from mohammad rafiq, Oct 2011)
• I think manzoor jr one the greatest right inner in world. He is the best playmaker (from ali Imran, Sept 2011)
• No doubt "Manzoor Jr". (from Rana Islam, July 2011)
• In my point of view, Manzoor Jr., highest gold medalist in the field of Hockey is best ever.  Body dauge and attacking skills make him out of cluster. (from Salman Shah, July 2011)
• I would say, Samiullah for sure - is the best player of all time. (from  Mujtaba Khan, April 2011).
• Also Rasheed Junior, Sami Ullah (Flying Horse) (suggested by Dr. Abid A Shah, March 2011).
• I think Manzoor jr is the best player ever, one of the highly skilled play maker (from  MOAZZUM MUKHTAR, March 2011).