England women seek maiden Hockey World League Final gold

England's women will look to make further hockey history when they begin their last World League Final campaign against Germany on Friday.

The eight-team event will be replaced by the 'Hockey Pro League' from 2019.

Eight of the 18-strong squad in New Zealand won Olympic gold last year.

Goalkeeper Maddie Hinch told BBC Sport: "After you've tasted gold, you want nothing else. Off the back of Rio, there's an excitement going forward and this new team has something special."

She added: "Yes, there are new players who need to establish themselves, but we all have the same dream which is gold and to be champions forever [of the World League Final] would be great."

England's best World League result came in the tournament's maiden event in 2013, with the squad claiming bronze in Argentina.

Record scorer Alex Danson will captain the team in Auckland with Laura Unsworth and Hollie Pearne-Webb appointed vice-captains through to the London World Cup in July 2018.

"With a big year ahead the experience of taking on the best teams in the world is only going to help us grow and become stronger," Unsworth told BBC Sport.

Head coach Danny Kerry returns to lead the side for the first time since having a heart attack at the World League semi-finals in South Africa in July.

The team finished third in that event before securing bronze at the EuroHockey Championships in August, which Kerry missed whilst he continued his rehabilitation and recovery.

"It all feels a bit surreal looking at what happened in July because I've moved on from that and I feel mentally and physically back in the swing of things now," Kerry told BBC Sport.

"I'm really looking forward to getting back out with the team and this is a really exciting group to be working with."

England begin their campaign at 23:00 on Friday and will also face Argentina (07:00, 19 November) and China (07:00, 21 November) in the group phase.