The 2026 Hockey World Cup is about to get underway in Belgium and the Netherlands. As the world’s best players battle it out on the pitch, we got thinking about the sport’s greatest what-ifs. Hockey has a habit of producing extraordinary players. But what about the extraordinary people it almost had? From Bollywood royalty to a future Prime Minister, from a Dark Knight to a Dark Horse. Here are ten famous people who played hockey before the world knew their names.

This feature draws on interviews, school and club records, contemporary reporting and first-person accounts from the people featured.

1. Shah Rukh Khan

Hockey Pedigree: Centre-Forward, St. Columba’s School, Delhi

Before he became Bollywood’s King Khan, Shah Rukh Khan was captain of the hockey, football and cricket teams simultaneously at St. Columba’s School in Delhi. He played as a centre-forward and was good enough to play in school tournaments across Delhi. His teammate in those tournaments, on the opposing side, was none other than Harendra Singh, who later became India’s national hockey coach and recalled playing against SRK in school tournaments.

When SRK later trained for Chak De! India, the hockey coach on set said he would not need a body double. Some things you cannot fake. But imagine that charisma, that energy, that ability to make an entire stadium feel like he is playing just for them, channelled into a centre-forward run. Opposition defenders would not just be beaten. They would be charmed into letting him through.

2. Rahul Dravid

Hockey Pedigree: Centre-Half, St. Joseph’s Boys High School, Bengaluru

The Wall. The man who built his career on patience, technique and staying in his crease. Rahul Dravid was a promising hockey player at St. Joseph’s Boys High School in Bengaluru, playing as a centre-half alongside teammates such as Anil Aldrin and Sandeep Somesh. Cricket claimed him, but given what he did with a bat, the discipline, the defensive technique, the ability to read the game, it is not hard to imagine what he might have done with a hockey stick. India gained one of cricket’s greatest ever players. Hockey lost one of sport’s most complete minds.

3. Kate Middleton

Hockey Pedigree: Captain, Marlborough College

Before she became the Princess of Wales, Catherine captained the field hockey team at Marlborough College. She also co-captained the tennis team and competed in swimming and netball. Her love of hockey began at home and she has since visited school hockey teams and spoken about why the game matters to her. Somewhere in an alternate universe, Kate Middleton is not attending World Cup matches as a royal patron. She is playing in them.

4. Ellie Kemper

Hockey Pedigree: Princeton University Field Hockey

You know her as Erin from The Office and the unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. What you probably do not know is that Ellie Kemper played field hockey at Princeton, one of the most competitive college programmes in the United States. Her team finished second in the national championship in 1998. However, by her own admission, she spent roughly 97 per cent of that season sitting on the bench and fetching water for her teammates before quitting to pursue comedy. Princeton’s loss. Television’s gain.

5. Harry Maguire

Hockey Pedigree: School Hockey, Sheffield

Yes, that Harry Maguire. The slabhead. The man whose expressions have launched a thousand memes. Before football consumed him entirely, Maguire played hockey at school in Sheffield. And he has spoken about what it gave him.

“Hockey helped my vision and passing,” he said in an interview with the Times. “It’s football with a stick, trying to get it in the back of the net.”

That vision and composure on the ball, the quality that makes Maguire most useful when he is at his best, has roots in hockey. A calming presence at the back, comfortable receiving under pressure, able to pick a pass when others panic. Those are hockey qualities. Had he stayed with the sport, England’s hockey team might have had one of the most unflappable defenders in the game. Though whether he would have been any better at keeping the ball out of a hockey goal than he occasionally was in a football one remains a separate question.

6. Heath Ledger

Hockey Pedigree: Kalamunda Hockey Club and Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia State U17 Squad

Here is one that will stop you. Heath Ledger, The Joker, one of the greatest actors of his generation, was selected for the Western Australia State U17 hockey squad. He played for Kalamunda Hockey Club from the age of 11, made the school’s First XI at Guildford Grammar, and was good enough that people around him believed he had a future in the sport. His own father became president of the hockey club such was the family’s involvement.

When Ledger was 13, his coach made him choose between hockey and acting. He chose acting.

Imagine for a moment that he had chosen differently. The Joker’s chaos, unpredictability and sheer presence, channelled into an Australian forward line. Opposition goalkeepers would have had nightmares. Why so serious? Because Heath Ledger is bearing down on goal.

7. Prince William

Hockey Pedigree: Captain, 2nd XI, Ludgrove Preparatory School

Long before he was heir to the throne, Prince William was captain of the 2nd XI hockey team at Ludgrove Preparatory School. His school reports noted his talent across multiple sports, with hockey among his standout activities. He eventually moved on to water polo and other pursuits. But hockey got there first.

8. Emma Watson

Hockey Pedigree: Club Field Hockey, Brown University

Hermione Granger with a hockey stick. Emma Watson played club field hockey at Brown University, where she enrolled in 2009 after already being one of the most famous faces on the planet. Her love of hockey began well before university and she has visited school hockey teams and spoken about why it matters. England’s women’s team could have done with some Hermione magic. A well-timed Wingardium Leviosa on a penalty corner, perhaps.

9. Manmohan Singh

Hockey Pedigree: Avid Player, Lahore, 1940s

This one is in a category of its own.

In 1945, a 13-year-old boy was playing hockey near his house in Lahore. The ground was next to the bungalow of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founding father. The boy took a shot at goal. It missed. It hit Jinnah.

That boy was Manmohan Singh, who went on to become India’s Prime Minister and one of the most respected economists in the world. Singh shared the story himself at an informal lunch with journalists in Bengaluru. “I had met Jinnah at Lahore in 1945,” he said. “He used to live close to my house and we used to play hockey near his house. One day a ball played by me hit Mr Jinnah, fortunately, he was not injured. Jinnah was standing outside his house watching us play when my shot hit him.”

When a reporter jokingly told him he should claim credit for the first strike at Jinnah, the former Prime Minister smiled shyly.

An avid hockey player in his teenage years in undivided Punjab, Singh eventually chose economics over sport. The world of hockey lost a player. The world gained something far greater. But what a story to carry.

10. Cara Delevingne

Hockey Pedigree: Competitive Goalkeeper

Model. Actress. Musician. And, as she revealed on The Late Late Show with James Corden, a competitive field hockey goalkeeper. Delevingne recalled her hockey days on the show, describing how she played competitively in goal before the modelling world came calling. Given her presence, her reflexes and her absolute refusal to be intimidated by anyone, she might have been a natural. The opposition would have had to deal with those eyebrows alone.