Dutch captain Van der Horst, 31, who picked up the FIH Rising Star of the Year award 10-years ago, led his team to the EuroHockey Championships title in London last August.

His compatriot Welten continued to contribute to The Netherlands' success in women’s international hockey in a year which saw the country win the Hockey World League semi-final, finish runners-up at the EuroHockey Championships and come fifth at the Hockey World League Final in Rosario, Argentina.

The Netherlands made it a hat-trick of Hockey Star 2015 award wins as Joyce Sombroek picked up the women’s goalkeeper of the year prize for the second year in a row, while Ireland’s David Harte won the men’s goalkeeper of the year award.

Sombroek’s presence in the Dutch goal helped her team reach Rio 2016 where the FIH’s world number one ranked team will aim to become the first women’s hockey side to win three consecutive Olympic titles.

Ireland’s men qualified for their first ever Olympic Games since 1908 with much of the credit going to captain Harte.

His performances in the Hockey World League semi-final ensured a fighting chance for Ireland to get to Rio and earned him the title of best goalkeeper in the tournament.

It was an accolade that he picked up again at the 2015 EuroHockey Championships as Ireland won bronze, the nation's first medal at a major international event.

The Rising Star of the Year awards went to Great Britain’s Lily Owsley and Germany’s Christopher Rühr, the latter picking up this award for the second time in his career.

Rühr, who first claimed the prize in 2013, the same year he played an influential role in his country’s Junior World Cup triumph, was an integral part of the German team that took silver in last year’s EuroHockey Championship.

He was named man of the match in the final of the Hockey World League semi-final in Buenos Aires, and was also joint top scorer at that event.

Owsley emerged as a potent striker for England and Britain in 2015, playing a key role in England’s EuroHockey Championships victory by scoring the goal that took her country to a shoot-out in the final against The Netherlands, which they went on to win.

The winners of this year’s FIH Hockey Stars were decided by the combined results of an online vote that was open to everyone and a peer vote from international athletes.

"Congratulations to Lidewij, Robert, Joyce, David, Lily and Christopher who rightly deserve this global recognition for their consistently exceptional performances during 2015," said FIH President Leandro Negre.

"The ambition of the Hockey Revolution, our ten-year strategy for hockey, is to make it a global game that inspires the next generation.

"These athletes are making this ambition a reality through their stellar performances on the pitch and their commitment to growing the game off it.

"I hope they use these awards to drive others to achieve excellence and in doing so inspire the next generation of athletes coming into our sport."

Players will be presented with their awards in their respective home countries over the coming weeks.

Tomorrow, the FIH will also be announcing the coach of the year and umpire of the year as part of Hockey Stars 2015.