The Pakistan Hockey Federation started the competition as a men's tournament in 1978 and it was only as late as 1987 that the first women's tournament took place.

Pakistan have won the trophy thrice -- twice when they hosted the tournament in Lahore, in the inaugural years in 1978 and '80. After 1980, the tournament became an anual affair. In fact, Pakistan are the only Asian nation to win the tournament.

Six teams qualify for the championship, which is now held annually, though the first edition in Lahore had five teams and the second, also at Lahore, had seven. In the year following the Olympics or a World Cup, the six teams include the host, the defending champion, the world champion and the next highest ranked teams from either the most recent World Cup or Olympic Games.

The last placed team in the tournament is dropped and replaced by the winner of the recently-introduced Champions Challenge, through which India qualified for the last edition after emerging triumphant in it.

Only four nations have able to win the trophy in the past 24 years: Pakistan (three times), The Netherlands (6), Australia (7) and Germany (8).

India's best showing is a third place in the fourth edition at Amstelveen, the Netherlands.

In the 18th edition, in Madras, in 1996, India played in the tournament as hosts and finished fourth. At the last edition too, in Cologne, Germany, India finished a creditable fourth after losing to Pakistan 3-4 in the third place play-off match.

Roll of Honour

1st Men's Champions Trophy, 17th - 24th November, 1978
Lahore, Pakistan
1	Pakistan
2	Australia
3	Great Britain
4	New Zealand
5	Spain
2nd Men's Champions Trophy, 3rd - 11th January, 1980
Lahore, Pakistan
1	Pakistan
2	Germany
3	Australia
4	The Netherlands
5	India
6	Spain
7	Great Britain
3rd Men's Champions Trophy, 9th - 16th January, 1981
Karachi, Pakistan
1	The Netherlands
2	Australia
3	Germany
4	Pakistan
5	Spain
6	England
4th Men's Champions Trophy, 6th - 13th June, 1982
Amstelveen, The Netherlands
1	The Netherlands
2	Australia
3	India
4	Pakistan
5	Germany
6	USSR
5th Men's Champions Trophy, 28th October - 4th November, 1983
Karachi, Pakistan
1	Australia
2	Pakistan
3	Germany
4	India
5	The Netherlands
6	New Zealand
6th Men's Champions Trophy, 1st - 8th December, 1984
Karachi, Pakistan
1	Australia
2	Pakistan
3	Great Britain
4	The Netherlands
5	New Zealand
6	Spain
7th Men's Champions Trophy, 16th - 24th November, 1985
Perth, Australia
1	Australia
2	Great Britain
3	Germany
4	Pakistan
5	The Netherlands
6	India
8th Men's Champions Trophy, 4th - 11th April, 1986
Karachi, Pakistan
1	Germany
2	Australia
3	Pakistan
4	Great Britain
5	India
6	The Netherlands
9th Men's Champions Trophy, 19th - 26th June, 1987
Amstelveen, The Netherlands
1	Germany
2	The Netherlands
3	Australia
4	Great Britain
5	Argentina
6	Spain
7	Pakistan
8	USSR
10th Men's Champions Trophy, 25th March - 1st April, 1988
Lahore, Pakistan
1	Germany
2	Pakistan
3	Australia
4	USSR
5	Spain
6	Great Britain
11th Men's Champions Trophy, 16th - 24th November, 1989
Berlin, Germany
1	Australia
2	The Netherlands
3	Germany
4	Pakistan
5	Great Britain
6	India
12th Men's Champions Trophy, 17th - 25th November, 1990
Melbourne, Australia
1	Australia
2	The Netherlands
3	Germany
4	Pakistan
5	USSR
6	Great Britain
13th Men's Champions Trophy, 13th - 22th September, 1991
Berlin, Germany
1	Germany
2	Pakistan
3	The Netherlands
4	Australia
5	Great Britain
6	USSR
14th Men's Champions Trophy, 20th - 28th February, 1992
Karachi, Pakistan
1	Germany
2	Australia
3	Pakistan
4	The Netherlands
5	Great Britain
6	France
15th Men's Champions Trophy, 3rd - 11th July, 1993
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1	Australia
2	Germany
3	The Netherlands
4	Pakistan
5	Spain
6	Malaysia
16th Men's Champions Trophy, 17th - 25th March, 1994
Lahore, Pakistan
1	Pakistan
2	Germany
3	The Netherlands
4	Australia
5	Spain
6	Great Britain
17th Men's Champions Trophy, 23th September - 1st October, 1995
Berlin, Germany
1	Germany
2	Australia
3	Pakistan
4	The Netherlands
5	India
6	England
18th Men's Champions Trophy, 7th - 15th December, 1996
Madras, India
1	The Netherlands
2	Pakistan
3	Germany
4	India
5	Spain
6	Australia
19th Men's Champions Trophy, 17th - 19th October, 1997
Adelaide, Australia
1	Germany
2	Australia
3	Spain
4	The Netherlands
5	Pakistan
6	Korea
20th Men's Champions Trophy, 31th October - 8th November, 1998
Lahore, Pakistan
1	The Netherlands
2	Pakistan
3	Australia
4	Korea
5	Spain
6	Germany
21th Men's Champions Trophy, 10th - 20th June, 1999
Brisbane, Australia
1	Australia
2	Korea
3	The Netherlands
4	Spain
5	England
6	Pakistan
22th Men's Champions Trophy, 27th May - 4th June, 2000
Amstelveen, The Netherlands
1	The Netherlands
2	Germany
3	Korea
4	Spain
5	Australia
6	Great Britain
23th Men's Champions Trophy, 3rd - 11th November, 2001
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1	Germany
2	Australia
3	The Netherlands
4	Pakistan
5	England
6	Korea
24th Men's Champions Trophy, 31st August - 8th September, 2002
Cologne, Germany
1	The Netherlands
2	Germany
3	Pakistan
4	India
5	Australia
6	Korea
25th Men's Champions Trophy, 16th - 24th August, 2003
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1	The Netherlands
2	Australia
3	Pakistan
4	India
5	Argentina
6	Germany