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

On 7 March 2026, in a stadium bearing the name of a departed friend, Natalia Salvador stood alone against the Japanese shoot-outs. Four attempts came, four times she stayed big until the last moment, four times she saved. It earned Chile a second successive World Cup qualification, and it was almost eerily the exact same scene as four years earlier: back then goalkeeper Claudia Schüler had preserved 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 yet forces its way in between them. It follows the path of an amateur squad, with players who by day are doctors or engineers, to a permanent place in the world's top twelve. It dissects the system of head coach Cristóbal Rodríguez, the key players, the rivals and the daunting pool in Amstelveen, holding on throughout to one question: can this generation prove that the surge of Chilean hockey was no emotional fluke, but a structural place at the top of the world?

World ranking and qualification

Chilean women's hockey experienced its best-ever moment in early 2026. After the World Cup qualifier in March, Chile climbed to eleventh on the FIH world ranking, the highest ranking in the country's history, having started the year as low as fifteenth. A fourth place at the Nations Cup in June cost it two spots again: since then the team has stood thirteenth, still higher than would have been conceivable a few years ago.

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

Within Pan America, Chile is now the firm number two, behind only the all-conquering Argentina. It is a remarkable position for a country with no professional league that has never taken part in the FIH Pro League, the biannual competition of the world's elite. 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 and fourth in 2026. It means that Chile, unlike its direct competitors, structurally plays few matches at the very highest level, a handicap that the system described below has to partly compensate for.

All of Chile's World Cup appearances

The major 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 bronze at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, when Chile showed for the first time that it could handle the pressure of a big tournament. At the Pan American Cup the team took silver in 2017, with its first ever win over the United States, and silver again in 2022, a tournament that on home soil delivered the first World Cup ticket.

The most symbolic result came later in 2022, at the South American Games (ODESUR) in Asunción: there Chile beat arch-rival Argentina for the first time in history, after a 0-0 settled 3-2 in the shoot-outs. At the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, in front of a home crowd, bronze followed once more, 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 to Germany, but then the historic 1-0 win over Ireland, a 1-3 against hosts the Netherlands and, in the classification, a 1-0 over South Africa. Qualifying for 2026 is the second successive World Cup appearance, and that continuity, not the individual results, is the real sign of maturity: Chile is no longer a one-off but a structural upper-mid contender.

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 CV: a thirteen-year international, former captain of the men's team, an 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 precisely what he changed: on his arrival, he felt, the team lacked simplicity in passing and receiving. For a year and a half he worked on ball circulation and a more positional playing concept, in which more linked passes became the basis. Just as concrete was his intervention at the penalty corner: where Chile once had a single drag flicker, the team now has three drag specialists of quality, plus new variations and improved defensive corners. His sober creed sums up the era: this is not luck, it is work and constancy ("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 from before the Argentine Sergio "Cachito" Vigil: the federation's years of work on mass participation and decentralisation delivered the technique, while Vigil mainly changed the mentality, the belief that winning was possible. Tellingly, Rodríguez was once an assistant even before Vigil took over, under Ronald Stein; he has known almost 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 goal 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 2025 Pan American Cup in Montevideo Chile lost the third-place play-off 0-2 to Uruguay and finished fourth, off the podium. That result is a useful counterweight to the euphoria around Santiago: against an emerging Uruguay it did come unstuck.

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 flow of top matches the Pro League provides. The only way in is winning the Nations Cup, and that is exactly where it came unstuck in 2026: after two bronze editions (2024 in Terrassa and 2025 in Santiago, where Natalia Salvador was voted best goalkeeper) Chile finished fourth in Auckland in June 2026, so promotion again eluded it. India won the tournament and took the Pro League place.

Preparation towards August 2026

The Nations Cup in June was the last major test. Chile beat France (2-0), lost to New Zealand (3-2) and drew with South Korea (2-2), before going down without a chance to India (0-6) in the semi-final and narrowly losing the bronze final to the US (2-3). Once in Amstelveen, the last friendly, against world top-four side China, was also lost. Rodríguez saw positives and negatives, but called it above all valuable to get up to speed, barely a day after arriving, against one of the best teams in the world.

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 dedicated, 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 in May 2026 was re-elected for the 2026-2028 term.

2026 World Cup squad

Head coach Rodríguez announced the definitive World Cup squad on 17 July 2026: twenty players, from whom eighteen are named per match. Captain Manuela Urroz, with 265 caps, is the most experienced, the twenty-year-old Laura Müller the youngest. Seven players make their World Cup debut. Compared with the June Nations Cup squad there is exactly one change: Antonia Irazoqui dropped out, Laura Müller came in.

The seven World Cup debutants are Antonia Sáez, Antonia Morales, Francisca Irazoqui, Constanza Muñoz, Florencia Barrios, Simone Avelli and Laura Müller. Four players come from foreign leagues: Salvador and Solano (Real Sociedad de Tenis, Santander), Ananías (Real Sociedad) and Arrieta (Rot-Weiss Köln in Germany).

Five key players

Manuela Urroz (captain) is the greatest Chilean hockey player of all time and, with 265 caps, the face and conscience of the team. She has played since 2009 and, at nineteen, already took bronze at the Pan American Games. She is a lawyer, played for years in Europe and is one of the few players who can prise open the defence of top nations with individual actions; in the opening match of the qualifier she scored twice 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 qualifier 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 registers by 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 forms a second drag option at the penalty corner; according to FIH statistics she was one of Chile's most productive players at the qualifier.

Fernanda Arrieta is the in-form forward of the moment. Playing in Germany (Rot-Weiss Köln), she was, with her goals, Chile's top scorer at the June 2026 Nations Cup, including a brace against South Korea, and forms an extra drag option at the penalty corner alongside Rojas and Maldonado. (Antonia Irazoqui, who scored the winning goal in the March qualifying final, did not make the definitive World Cup squad.)

Depth analysis by line

The influx from the junior squad that in December 2025 played the Junior World Cup hosted by Chile (where Chile finished eighteenth) now gives Rodríguez concrete World Cup debutants: junior captain Florencia Barrios and the twenty-year-old Laura Müller made the definitive squad.

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 at lightning speed. In the final against Australia that pattern was crystal clear: Chile pressed high in the opening phase ("presión alta"), then dropped back and controlled the dangerous zones, while the Hockeyroos broke themselves on a wall. The winning goal was a textbook counter: a powerful flick from Denise Rojas Losada broke through all the lines, 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 the goalkeeper for an extra outfield player.

That defensive solidity can be captured in figures: across the whole qualifier Chile conceded only two goals in regular time across 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 qualifier the majority of its eleven goals indeed came from a corner or set-piece situation; the winning goal against France, for instance, 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.

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

With that, the broader, structural weakness comes into view. Chile is an amateur nation: the domestic competition 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 the volume against the absolute top is missing. Recent form underlines that vulnerability: at the June Nations Cup Chile finished fourth, with a 0-6 against India and a lost bronze final against the US, and the last friendly in Amstelveen, against China, was also lost. 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 befalls a key player such as Rojas or Urroz. It is the question that the team's own federation president sharply posed: 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 first won in 2022, though Argentina remains the benchmark.

United States: the fight for second place

The US is the other Pan American power and Chile's direct competitor for second place on the continent. The stylistic contrast is sharp: American athletic power against Chilean tactical patience. Chile beat the US in the 2025 Nations Cup third-place play-off 2-1, but lost the bronze final a year later, in June 2026, to the American team again, 2-3.

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, eighth in the world, lost to Chile twice in March and will be out for revenge. Japan, fifteenth in the ranking, is the most realistic opponent in the fight for second place; Chile beat the Japanese in March via shoot-outs.

Key players per rival

• Argentina: Agustina Gorzelany (drag flicker), Eugenia Trinchinetti, Agustina Albertario.
• United States: Kelsey Bing (goalkeeper), Ashley Sessa, Abby Tamer.
• Netherlands: Felice Albers, Yibbi Jansen (drag flicker), 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 qualification in three words: conviction, passion and resilience ("convicción, pasión y resiliencia"); when those three come together, she said, the team gets the best out of itself. It is not an empty mantra. The mental backbone of Las Diablas, this garra or fighting spirit, is literally built around loss and remembrance.

That remembrance has a name: Claudia Schüler. The iconic goalkeeper-captain was the face of the first World Cup qualification in 2022, when she was decisive 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 one, a collective one, and a goal "por la Chuchu", for Claudia. When Salvador in 2026, in the stadium named after Schüler, repeated her heroine's role exactly, 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 participation itself was already a triumph, now results are expected. It is precisely that shift, from hoping for a win to winning through preparation, that the current team has 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 origin explains why the national team, until recently, depended on clubs for training pitches. 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, for the first time, a permanent home with water-based pitches of World Cup standard, 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, kinesiologists, 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 have 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: head coach Rodríguez estimates that the number of hockey players in Chile has risen exponentially, and the federation is investing in decentralisation so that players from the regions also come through. Even the amateur status itself may be on the verge of change: at the team's send-off in early August the minister of sport announced a bill to amend labour law so that hockey players too, and not only footballers, can be contracted as professionals.

The team has thereby 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 chair 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, sometimes seen as a spiritual forerunner of the modern passion for the sport. Whether that line is historically hard or mainly symbolic, it gives hockey in Chile a cultural charge that reaches beyond the country clubs of Santiago.

Wagener Stadium: Chile's temporary home in Amstelveen

The 2026 World Cup is played from 15 to 30 August in Amstelveen (Wagener Stadium) and Wavre (Belfius Hockey Arena). For Chile it is simple: all pool matches are played in Amstelveen, at the Wagener Stadium. 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 countries in four pools of four. The top two per pool advance to a second group stage, in which the points won against fellow qualifiers are carried forward; the third and fourth teams play on in classification pools for places nine to sixteen. There are no more quarter-finals: the top two from the second group stage qualify directly for the semi-finals. For Chile it means that every pool match counts and that one result against Japan or Australia can make the difference between the top eight and the fight for ninth to sixteenth.

Scenario analysis: the road to the final

Realistically the battle in Pool A is not for first place, which is virtually certain for the Netherlands, but for second, between Chile and Japan. Chile beat both Japan and Australia in March, so advancing is no fantasy, but recent form (fourth at the Nations Cup, defeat by China) and a World Cup pool with the reigning world champions and a home crowd make it tough. Head coach Rodríguez nonetheless set the bar high: the goal is a place in the top eight ("el sueño es meternos entre las ocho primeras"), though elsewhere the more cautious floor of the top ten is also heard. The opening match against the Netherlands is the hardest; the match against Japan on the second matchday is the most winnable and strategically most important. If Chile finishes third or fourth, it is not eliminated but plays on for places nine to sixteen.

1. Natalia Salvador in the shoot-outs. If a Chilean match goes to shoot-outs, Salvador is the X-factor. In the semi-final against Japan she saved four; she stays notably low and wide until late and forces the attacker into a backhand that she plucks. Watch her in every knockout 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 running attacker. 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 built the corner up from one to three drag specialists (Rojas, Maldonado, Arrieta). Watch the variations, but also the execution under pressure: three missed corners in a row in the final showed the coordination is still fragile.

4. Fernanda Arrieta. The forward playing in Germany (Rot-Weiss Köln) was one of Chile's scorers at the June Nations Cup and forms an extra drag option at the penalty corner. Watch her direct shot and her run into the circle.

5. Defending short-handed. Chile regularly survives closing phases a player down or against a pulled goalkeeper, as against Australia. The compact block and the calm under pressure are a recurring feature.

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 holders, confidence for the crucial duels with Japan and Australia will soar. Rodríguez spoke after the draw 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 right up to the stands, and the players carry it with them. It is not a 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, Chile finishes second in Pool A, again at the expense of Japan or Australia, reaches the second group stage and with it the coveted top eight, an unprecedented result that would complete the amateur fairy tale. The most likely scenario is soberer: a third or fourth place in the pool and then the classification fight for places nine to sixteen, but with the awareness that Chile belongs here. And there is the painful scenario, a defeat by the Japan or Australia beaten back in March, which would feel like a missed chance.

Whatever the outcome, after this World Cup Chile stands in a place that seemed unthinkable years ago. A small, amateur nation that grew out of private clubs has become a permanent global upper-mid contender 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, from the bronze of Guadalajara to the record ranking of 2026. The question that will be answered in Amstelveen is whether this is the ceiling, or only the start of the road to Los Angeles 2028.

Official sources

• FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) - world ranking, qualifier results, statistics, draw and 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 the 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 - qualifier reports.
• The Clinic - player interviews.