Las Diablas in 2026: amateurs, garra and the shadow of Claudia Schüler

On 7 March 2026, in a stadium that bears the name of a deceased friend, Natalia Salvador stood alone against the Japanese shoot-outs. Four attempts came, four times she stayed big until the very last moment, four times she saved. It earned Chile its second World Cup qualification in a row, and it was almost eerily the exact same scene as four years earlier: back then goalkeeper Claudia Schüler had kept out the first World Cup ticket on this very spot, also with a 2-0 in the shoot-outs.

This dossier portrays a team that does not belong among the established powerhouses and yet works its way in. It follows the path of an amateur squad, with players who by day are doctors or engineers, to a permanent place in the global top twelve. It dissects the system of head coach Cristóbal Rodríguez, the key players, the rivals and the brutal pool in Amstelveen, and keeps holding on to one question throughout: can this generation prove that the surge of Chilean hockey was not an emotional fluke, but a structural place at the top of the world?

World ranking and qualification

Chilean women's hockey is living its best moment ever. After the World Cup qualifying tournament of March 2026, Chile climbed to eleventh place on the FIH world ranking, the highest position in the country's history. At the start of that same year the team still stood fifteenth; four places gained in a few months made Chile one of the biggest risers within the top fifteen.

The qualification itself is a story of its own. Chile did not qualify via the Pan American route, but by winning the World Cup qualifying tournament in Santiago as the host nation, undefeated. In the group it beat Switzerland (6-0), Australia (2-1) and France (1-0), in the semi-final Japan followed via shoot-outs, and in the final Australia again (1-0). It was the first time that a Chilean hockey team, men or women, won such a global qualifying tournament.

Within Pan America, Chile is by now the solid number two, behind only the all-powerful Argentina. It is a remarkable position for a country that has no professional league and has never taken part in the FIH Pro League, the biannual competition of the global top. For Chile, the route to that Pro League runs via the Nations Cup, whose winner is promoted; there the team finished third in both 2024 and 2025. It means that Chile, unlike its direct competitors, structurally plays few matches at the very highest level, a handicap that the system described below must partly compensate for.

All of Chile's World Cup appearances

The big tournaments

Chile has (as yet) no world title and no Olympic appearance; its history consists of a steady rise in continental and regional tournaments. The first real milestone was the bronze at the Pan American Games of Guadalajara 2011, when Chile showed for the first time that it could handle the pressure of a major tournament. At the Pan American Cup the team took silver in 2017, with the very first win over the United States, and silver again in 2022, a tournament that delivered the first World Cup ticket on home soil.

The most symbolic result came later in 2022, at the South American Games (ODESUR) in Asunción: there Chile beat its arch-rival Argentina for the first time in history, after a 0-0 with 3-2 in the shoot-outs. At the Pan American Games of Santiago 2023, in front of its own crowd, bronze followed again, thanks to a 2-0 over Canada. In 2024 and 2025 Chile twice won bronze at the Nations Cup.

Recent editions

At the 2022 World Cup in Spain and the Netherlands, Chile made a promising debut with a thirteenth place: a 1-4 defeat against Germany, but then the historic 1-0 win over Ireland, a 1-3 against host nation the Netherlands and, in the classification, a 1-0 over South Africa. Qualifying for 2026 is the second World Cup appearance in a row, and that continuity, not the individual results, is the real sign of maturity: Chile is no longer a one-hit wonder but a structural sub-top side.

Philosophy and approach

Cristóbal Rodríguez, nicknamed "Pollo", took the helm in 2024 and made his competitive debut at the Nations Cup in early 2025. He is a Chilean with a rich résumé: thirteen years an international, former captain of the men's team, Olympian at Rio 2016, and for years active in Belgian club hockey and the youth development of the Belgian federation. That European methodology he brought with him to Santiago.

In an interview with La Tercera he explained exactly what he changed: on his arrival the team, in his view, lacked simplicity in passing and receiving. For a year and a half he worked on ball circulation and on a more positional game concept, in which more linked passes became the foundation. Just as concrete is his intervention at the penalty corner: where Chile once had a single drag flicker, the team now has three top-level drag specialists, plus new variations and improved defensive corners. His sober creed sums up the era: this is not luck, it is work and steadfastness ("aquí no es suerte; es trabajo y constancia").

Rodríguez deliberately does not place himself in the shadow of his predecessor. The leap in quality, he argues, came even before the Argentine Sergio "Cachito" Vigil: the federation's years of work on mass participation and decentralisation produced the technique, while Vigil above all changed the mentality, the belief that winning was possible. Telling is that Rodríguez was once an assistant even before Vigil arrived, under Ronald Stein; he has known nearly every player for years.

Paris 2024 and the Olympic dream

Chile has never qualified for the Olympic Games; Paris 2024 remained out of reach. Precisely for that reason it is the great mark on the horizon. Rodríguez names Los Angeles 2028 as the ultimate ambition: Olympic qualification would make Chile the first collective sports team besides men's football to reach the Games.

Pan American Cup 2025 Montevideo

The most recent continental final tournament went less smoothly than the myth suggests. At the Pan American Cup 2025 in Montevideo Chile lost the third-place match 0-2 to Uruguay and finished fourth, off the podium. That result is a useful counterweight to the euphoria around Santiago: against a rising Uruguay things did go wrong.

FIH Pro League 2024-25 and 2025-26

Chile does not take part in the FIH Pro League. Unlike the Netherlands, Argentina, Australia or Japan, the team therefore misses the constant stream of top matches the Pro League offers. The only route to it is winning the Nations Cup; in 2024 and 2025 Chile stranded there each time on bronze, while New Zealand took the promotion ticket in 2025 and Natalia Salvador was voted best goalkeeper of the tournament.

Preparation schedule towards August 2026

The Nations Cup in Auckland, a few weeks before the World Cup, is doubly relevant: it is a final test of strength against strong nations and once again a chance at Pro League promotion. The announced friendly internationals against highly ranked opponents still have to be officially confirmed.

The staff under Rodríguez

The technical leadership consists of head coach Cristóbal Rodríguez with assistants Ignacio Huarte and Esteban Krainz and physical trainer Daniel Zapata. The commitment to fixed, specialised goalkeeper training is cited by the team itself as an important explanation for the leap in goalkeeping quality. The federation, the Federación Chilena de Hockey, is chaired by Andrés de Witt, who was re-elected in May 2026 for the 2026-2028 term.

Training group 2026

The table below shows the most recent confirmed selection (Nations Cup Auckland 2026). The definitive World Cup selection will only become official in July; position, birth year and caps data per player must be checked against that official list.

Five key players

Manuela Urroz (captain) is the greatest Chilean hockey player of all time and, with well over 250 internationals, the face-and-conscience of the team. She has played since 2009 and won bronze at the Pan American Games at nineteen. She is a lawyer, played for years in Europe and is one of the few players who can break open the defence of top nations with individual actions; in the opening match of the qualification tournament she scored two goals against Switzerland, a reverse sweep and a tip.

Natalia Salvador (goalkeeper) is perhaps the team's very best weapon. She was named best goalkeeper of the qualification tournament and is repeatedly decisive in shoot-outs. She plays in Spain, at Real Sociedad de Tenis in Santander, and took over the goal from the late Claudia Schüler, with whom she was friends.

Denise Rojas Losada (also known in the international records under her maiden name Krimerman) is the primary penalty corner specialist and at the same time a physically strong defender. Her drag flick broke the Irish defence in 2022 and was at the root of the winning goal in the Santiago final. In daily life she is a physiotherapist.

María Jesús Maldonado is an attack-minded midfielder who scores in big matches and at the penalty corner forms a second drag option; according to the FIH statistics she was one of the most productive Chilean players at the qualification tournament.

Antonia Irazoqui is the new face: she debuted at the qualification tournament and immediately scored the winning goal in the final against Australia, a solo in which she dribbled past the goalkeeper. A name to remember.

Competition analysis per line

The influx from the junior team that played the Junior World Cup hosted by Chile in December 2025 gives Rodríguez real depth for the first time: names like Laura Müller and Florencia Barrios made the step up to the senior selection and force competition for places.

The Rodríguez system

Chile does not want to dominate through possession, but through organisation. The profile is that of a disciplined, physically intense block that lets the opponent have the ball, waits for a mistake in the build-up and switches gears in a flash. In the final against Australia that pattern was crystal clear: Chile still pressed high in the opening phase ("presión alta"), but then dropped back and controlled the dangerous zones, while the Hockeyroos kept running into a wall. The winning goal was a textbook counter: a powerful flick from Denise Rojas Losada broke through every line, Antonia Irazoqui collected it and finished in the seventh minute. After that the 1-0 was defended, including saves by Salvador in the forty-ninth and fifty-fourth minutes and a closing phase in which Australia pulled their goalkeeper for an extra outfield player.

That defensive solidity can be put into numbers: across the entire qualifying tournament Chile conceded only two goals in regular time over five matches, with three clean sheets, a level normally reserved for title contenders.

The penalty corner as a weapon

The attacking philosophy revolves around efficiency, not volume. Chile knows that against compact defences the penalty corner is the most reliable source of goals, and at the qualifying tournament the majority of its eleven goals indeed came from a corner or set-piece situation; the winning goal against France, for example, was tapped in by Josefa Salas from an early set piece. With Rojas Losada as the power specialist, Maldonado as a variation option and Fernanda Arrieta as an extra drag-flicker, Rodríguez has turned the corner from a one-woman act into a multi-headed weapon.

But that is precisely where the honest caveat lies too. The execution under pressure is not yet finished: in the final Chile got three penalty corners in a row in the second quarter and converted none, with the sober explanation being a lack of coordination in the variant. Against a drag-flicker of the calibre of the Dutch Yibbi Jansen on the other side, that is the difference between competing and losing.

And so the broader, structural weak point comes into view. Chile is an amateur nation: the domestic league leans on a handful of clubs, the best players are scattered across Europe and only join up shortly before a tournament, and without Pro League matches there is a lack of volume against the absolute top. Over a long tournament with matches every few days, the question is whether the squad is deep and physically broad enough to sustain the level, especially if an injury hits a key player like Rojas or Urroz. It is the question that the federation's own president posed pointedly: qualifying is one thing, but what are you going to a World Cup for ("¿a qué vamos al Mundial?").

Argentina: the neighbour and the benchmark

The rivalry with Las Leonas is the mother of all Chilean ambitions. Argentina, the world number two, was unreachable for decades; the nickname Las Diablas (the she-devils) even arose as a counterpart to the Argentine lionesses. The relationship has shifted from one-way traffic to a chess match since Chile won for the first time in 2022, even if Argentina remains the benchmark.

United States: the battle for second place

The US is the other Pan-American power and Chile's direct competitor for the continent's second spot. The stylistic contrast is sharp: American athleticism against Chilean tactical patience. Chile lost in the pool at the 2025 Pan American Cup, but beat the US later that season in the Nations Cup third-place final 2-1.

Netherlands, Australia and Japan: the pool opponents

The three direct World Cup rivals are in Pool A. Hosts the Netherlands are the reigning Olympic, world and European champions and the world number one, the ultimate test. Australia, the world's number eight, lost twice to Chile in March and will be out for revenge. Japan, fifteenth in the rankings, is the most realistic opponent in the battle for second place; Chile beat the Japanese in March via shoot-outs.

Key players per rival

• Argentina: Agustina Gorzelany (drag-flick specialist), Eugenia Trinchinetti, Agustina Albertario.
• United States: Kelsey Bing (goalkeeper), Ashley Sessa, Abby Tamer.
• Netherlands: Felice Albers, Yibbi Jansen (drag-flick specialist), Pien Sanders.
• Australia: Claire Colwill, Mariah Williams.
• Japan: Yuri Nagai, Shihori Oikawa, Hanami Saito (scored the Japanese goal against Chile).

Ask a Chilean international what makes the team unique, and the answer is not about tactics. Goalkeeper Natalia Salvador summed it up after qualifying in three words: conviction, passion and resilience ("convicción, pasión y resiliencia"); when those three come together, she said, the team brings out the best in itself. It is no empty mantra. The mental backbone of Las Diablas is literally built around loss and remembrance.

That memory has a name: Claudia Schüler. The iconic goalkeeper-captain was the face of the first World Cup qualification in 2022, when she made the decisive difference in the shoot-outs. Nine months later, in March 2023, she died of cancer, thirty-five years old. Since then the team plays, in the words of the Chilean press, with a threefold goal: a personal goal, a collective goal, and a goal "por la Chuchu", for Claudia. When Salvador in 2026 repeated exactly that heroic role in the stadium named after Schüler, with the same 2-0 in the shoot-outs and again a direct qualification, it felt to Chile not like coincidence but like a circle being completed.

On top of that lies the awareness that every achievement is delivered alongside a full life. The pressure in 2026 is, moreover, different from 2022: back then taking part was a triumph in itself, now results are expected. It is precisely that shift, from hoping for a win to winning through preparation, that the current team has to learn to carry.

Chilean hockey is rooted in the private clubs of well-to-do eastern Santiago: Prince of Wales Country Club, Universidad Católica, Club Manquehue, Old Reds. For a long time it was an elite sport, and that background explains why the national team depended on clubs for training pitches until recently. That changed with the construction of its own, ultra-modern complex on the grounds of the Estadio Nacional, renamed Centro de Hockey Césped Claudia Schüler in honour of the late goalkeeper. It gave Las Diablas a permanent home for the first time, with World Cup-level water pitches, and with it an explosion of training hours.

Yet the core remains amateur, and that is exactly what makes the story special. The players are doctors, physiotherapists, engineers, teachers and analysts whose alarm goes off between five and six in the morning for a first training session, after which they put on their work clothes. Many exported themselves to European leagues, in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, and return for the national team. The growth of the base is meanwhile impressive: national coach Rodríguez estimates that the number of hockey players in Chile has risen exponentially, and the federation is betting on decentralisation so that players from the regions also come through.

The team has thus become a national symbol that transcends its elite roots. Former captain Camila Caram, who retired in 2024 after eighteen years, embodies that broadening: she is president of the FIH Athletes' Committee and founded a foundation that brings hockey to underprivileged children. Some Chileans moreover draw a deeper cultural line to palín, the ancestral stick-and-ball game of the indigenous Mapuche, which is sometimes seen as a spiritual forerunner of the modern passion for the sport. Whether that line is historically firm or mainly symbolic, it gives hockey in Chile a cultural charge that reaches further than the country clubs of Santiago.

Wagener Stadion: Chile's temporary home in Amstelveen

The World Cup 2026 is played from 15 to 30 August in Amstelveen (Wagener Stadion) and Wavre (Belfius Hockey Arena). For Chile it is simple: all pool matches are played in Amstelveen, at the Wagener Stadion. The women's final is on Saturday 29 August, also in Amstelveen; the men's final a day later in Wavre.

Pool A and the tournament format

Chile is drawn in Pool A, together with the Netherlands, Australia and Japan. The tournament features sixteen nations, split into four pools of four; the top two per pool advance to a second group stage, in which the points earned head-to-head against fellow qualified teams are carried over, to then reach the semi-finals through that round. For Chile this means that every pool match counts and that a single result against Japan or Australia can make the difference.

Scenario analysis: the road to the final

Realistically the battle in Pool A is not about first place, which is virtually certain for the Netherlands, but about second, between Chile and Japan. In March Chile beat both Japan and Australia, so going through is no fantasy; but a World Cup pool with the reigning world champion and a home crowd is of a different order than a qualification tournament on home soil. The opening match against the Netherlands is immediately the toughest; the match against Japan on the second match day is the most winnable and strategically most important. If Chile manages to finish second, then in the next round nations such as England or India probably await.

1. Natalia Salvador in the shoot-outs. If a Chilean match goes to shoot-outs, then Salvador is the X-factor. In the semi-final against Japan she stopped four of them; she stays remarkably long low and wide and forces the attacker into a backhand that she picks off. Watch her in every knock-out situation.

2. The counter after the flick-through. The decisive goal in the final came from a long flick by Rojas straight through the lines onto a runner. That is no coincidence but a pattern: Chile lets the ball go and strikes vertically the moment the opponent's build-up falters.

3. The penalty corner trio, and the flip side. Rodríguez expanded the corner from one to three drag-flick specialists (Rojas, Maldonado, Arrieta). Watch the variations, but also the execution under pressure: three missed corners in a row in the final showed that the coordination is still fragile.

4. Antonia Irazoqui. The new face who debuted at the qualification tournament and immediately scored the winning goal. Her explosive first metres on entering the circle are a weapon against deep-lying defences.

5. Defending while outnumbered. Chile regularly survives closing phases a player down or against a goalkeeper who has come out, as against Australia. The compact block and the calm under pressure are a recurring hallmark.

6. The opening phase against the Netherlands. If Chile manages in the first match to keep the score low or even force a point against the title holder, confidence for the crucial duels with Japan and Australia shoots up. After the draw Rodríguez spoke of a match "igual a igual". The first twenty minutes say a lot.

7. The Schüler charge around the team. From the stadium name to the mural: the memory of Claudia Schüler is tangible all the way up to the stands, and the players carry it with them. It is no side story but the engine beneath the mentality.

On Saturday 29 August 2026 the world title is decided in Amstelveen, and it is worth laying three scenarios side by side. In the most favourable case Chile finishes second in Pool A, once again at the expense of Japan or Australia, and reaches the second group stage, an unprecedented result that would complete the amateur fairy tale. The most likely scenario is more sober: an early exit after the group stage, but with the awareness that Chile belongs here. And there is the painful scenario, a defeat against the Japan or Australia it beat in March, which would feel like a missed opportunity.

Whatever the outcome, after this World Cup Chile stands in a place that seemed unthinkable years ago. A small, amateur nation born out of private clubs has become a stable top-twelve side and a two-time World Cup participant, built on a perfect storm: the emotional legacy of Claudia Schüler, the mental foundation of Sergio Vigil, and the methodical hand of Cristóbal Rodríguez. The milestones are set in stone, from the bronze of Guadalajara to the record ranking of March 2026. The question that will be answered in Amstelveen is whether this is the ceiling, or only the beginning of the road to Los Angeles 2028.

Official sources

• FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) - world ranking, qualification results, statistics, draw and match schedule.
• Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF) - continental context and tournaments.
• Federación Chilena de Hockey (Chile Hockey) - official squads and results.
• Olympics.com - player profiles and Pan American Games.

Chilean media

• La Tercera / El Deportivo - coach interviews and the portrait of Claudia Schüler.
• ESPN Chile - match reports and background pieces.
• BioBioChile - squad and match news.
• Emol - staff and federation news.
• Cooperativa - qualification reports.
• The Clinic - player interviews.