The de Jager siblings are headed to the same World Cup this August, and they’re both goalkeepers. Morgan and Cullin de Jager have been named in South Africa’s squads for the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands, with brother and sister set to guard opposite ends of the country’s hopes on the game’s biggest stage.
Cullin features in South Africa’s 20-player men’s squad, while Morgan is named in the women’s squad of the same size. Both were schooled at Maragon Ruimsig, now Crawford Ruimsig International, and the de Jager siblings have taken strikingly similar roads from provincial hockey to national colours as the last line of defence.
Cullin de Jager started out as a striker in Grade 6. It was only in Grade 9, when his school side needed a goalkeeper, that he pulled on the kit for fun and never gave it back. He found he had no fear of the ball, the one trait every goalkeeping coach will tell you cannot be taught.
Limited school exposure did not stop him working through the Southern Gauteng ranks and into the senior national setup, where he has built a reputation as one of South Africa’s most reliable shot-stoppers across both codes of the game.
The honours have followed. Cullin was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the SPAR Interprovincial in both 2022 and 2023, again at the 2024 Indoor Africa Cup, and most recently at the FIH Men’s Nations Cup in Cape Town in June 2026, where his penalty-shootout heroics against New Zealand helped South Africa reach the final. He saved all four attempts in that shootout, a performance built on the reflexes he sharpens weekly as South Africa’s indoor goalkeeper too.
“You can have all the talent in the world, but there is something different about a goalkeeper who has already faced four shootout attempts on a Friday night with a home crowd screaming behind him. That kind of composure carries into a World Cup!” – 🎙️Jay
Morgan de Jager’s path has run in parallel. Also a product of the Maragon Ruimsig system, she has built her hockey career alongside serious academic achievement at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she is completing a Postgraduate Diploma in Digital Business after graduating on the Dean’s List.
She was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the 2023 Junior Africa Cup, went on to represent South Africa at the 2023 FIH Junior World Cup in Chile, and has since earned senior caps for the national side. She was part of the squad that won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Ismailia, sealing South Africa’s berth at this year’s World Cup in the process.
For the de Jager siblings, the position has always meant more than saves and clean sheets. Both have spoken about the responsibility of being the last line, the weight of a debut in senior colours, and the reminder that no individual award means much if the team does not perform around it.
The 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup runs from 15 to 30 August across venues in Wavre, Belgium, and Amstelveen, Netherlands. South Africa’s men were drawn into Pool C alongside Australia, Spain and Ireland, and open their campaign against Spain on 16 August. The women landed in Pool D with China, England and India, a group that will test them against some of the sport’s genuine heavyweights.
Two de Jager siblings, two South African squads, one World Cup. It is a proud moment for the family and for South African hockey, and a story worth following all the way to Belgium and the Netherlands.
📸 Images via SA Hockey
