Belgium’s Vincent Vanasch is one of the world’s top goalkeepers now and one of the most experienced ones. A World Champion (2018), Olympic gold medallist (Tokyo 2020-21), European champion (2019), and three-time FIH Goalkeeper of the Year (2017–2019), the 38-year-old Belgian brings vast experience to the field.
A four-time Olympian with over 270 international caps, Vanasch now plays in the Hockey India League for JSW Soorma HC. He praised his young teammate H.S. Mohith: “He is fantastic — focused, skilled, and able to take advice on board. His reflexes are excellent, and if he trusts himself, he will go far.”
Looking ahead, Vanasch is excited for the FIH men’s World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands this August. Far from contemplating retirement, he said, “After the World Cup, it’s only two years until the Los Angeles Olympics 2028. Why not push for one more and play my fifth Olympics?” Excerpts:
How different is Hockey India League when compared to other leagues, especially European leagues?
It’s really special, to be honest. You come here, you have maybe two weeks with the team and then it starts and especially this year the season is shorter than last year.
So, every game counts. There is more intense pressure. If you make a mistake, you need to get back on track quickly. You have seven games and then it’s the playoffs, so it’s pressure but really nice, too, because I think when you can turn it into positive pressure, it becomes a privilege.
Vincent Vanasch.
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How do you feel when you take to the pitch facing some top quality drag-flickers and any particular names that you would like to share?
I’m always happy to be on the highest stage with so many good drag-flickers. To be honest, it’s a privilege for me to train with teammate and captain Harmanpreet Singh because he’s one of the best. It’s one of his superpowers. There is Jip Janssen of The Netherlands. Unfortunately, he is not here. You have New Zealand’s Ken Russell, who plays for HIL GC and then there is my compatriot Tom Boon, who plays for Ranchi Royals. And you have Belgium’s Alexander Hendrickx, who plays for Vedanta Kalinga Lancers. It’s quite nice that most of the guys are here in HIL where I can face them because it’ great practice, I think, for the World Cup. And I think it’s good to compete at the highest level of the competition, with the best players in the world competing.
Your thoughts on teammate H.S. Mohith?
Mohith is fantastic. I met him last year with Soorma HC. I’m that type of a goalkeeper who’s going to share everything with my teammates and especially him. I will share my techniques, I will share my knowledge, will always share a piece of advice when I see something. That’s why we analyse together the corners and the shooters or the games in general. And I give him also some sessions. It’s quite nice to share everything together. And when I heard the news that he was selected for the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia in November last year, I was happy because he’s that typical goalie who’s going to be really focused on his task and always going to become better. And he can implement a lot of advice that I give. And he has a lot of skills on the pitch. His reflexes are good. He needs to trust himself that he’s going to go far.
Soorma has seen few ups and many downs in HIL so far? What went wrong and how do you plan to bounce back?
And like I said, the league is shorter. We lost the first two matches in Chennai. Any defeat puts you under pressure. But then we took two points against last year’s finalist Hyderabad Toofans, which is a really good team with a good set of players. The win gave us a boost and confidence that we can beat everyone in this league. We need to take points. It is important but at the same time it’s imperative we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves. At the end, we have to show our qualities on the field. And our qualities are to play together as a team. It’s not the individuals, who are going to make a difference. But, as one team, we can do something big.
The World Cup is happening in your country (Belgium) and The Netherlands. Will it be your farewell tournament? And how are you look forward to the competition?
To be honest, it’s really nice to play such a big tournament like a World Cup in my country. I know everything is going to be well organised as well. And it’s special to play in front of your crowd. With regards to this being my final tournament, I don’t know yet, but let’s see because I’ve been playing almost 20 years for the national team. If we can end with a gold medal at the World Cup, that would be great. But after the World Cup, it’s only two years for Los Angeles Olympics 2028. So, why not push for two more years and play my fifth Olympics?
Belgium has been one of the consistent teams in World Cups. In the last World Cup in 2023, Belgium finished runner-up. What are the expectations and how is the team preparing?
The team has changed. A lot of players quit playing but they were really experienced players. I think seven of them (might be out of the team]. So, we lost a lot of experience in our team. But we have new guys, young kids coming in the team and filling those gaps. We can see they need some experience and that’s why we play a lot of tournaments like the Pro League. We want those players to take up the responsibilities that we give them.
We want them to take the initiative, knowing why they are in the team, knowing their qualities, knowing what they can do with the ball and off the ball, of course, and make sure that they become better players. I hope they will improve a lot and become a better version of themselves on and off the pitch.
Published – January 22, 2026 12:07 am IST
