Abstract. Field hockey is one of the most ancient sports games. Historians attribute the appearance of hockey-like games on the European continent to Roman rule. Roman soldiers brought a pagan from Greece – a game with a bent stick and a ball covered with leather and stuffed with feathers. In its modern form, field hockey appeared in the XIX century. in England. The basis of development were schools and universities. Until the 1960s, field hockey in Ukraine did not develop properly. Only in 1969 did men start playing this game, and the first women's teams appeared in the late 70's of the twentieth century. Results. Beginning with the Moscow Olympics (1980), the program of games included competitions among women's teams. The national teams of the USSR (women's and men's) won bronze medals at the Olympic Games in Moscow (1980), which began the mass development of this sport in Ukraine, because the USSR national teams included Ukrainian athletes [4]. Conclusion. In the second half of the twentieth century, field hockey in Ukraine began to develop thanks to the centers in Chernivtsi, Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Cherkasy, Vasylkiv, Boryspil and others. The teams took part in the USSR Championship in the First League. But it was necessary to reach a higher level than the First League, and the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of Ukraine, which was then headed by Baka Mykhailo Mykhailovych, decided to create strong men's and women's teams in Kyiv region

field hockey; tournament; history; sports games