2026 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

2026 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

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The 2026 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were the 89th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams participated at several levels of competition based on their 2025 results. The competition also served as qualifications for division placements in the 2027 edition.

As a test, two divisions were scheduled to play their tournament with two groups, with a knockout stage to follow and the winner of the final to be promoted. The last-placed teams of each group would play a two-game series to determine the relegated team.^[1]

Championship (Top Division)

The tournament was held in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland, from 15 to 31 May 2026.^[2]

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Switzerland (H)	7	7	0	0	0	39	7	+32	21	Quarterfinals
2	Finland	7	6	0	0	1	31	11	+20	18
3	Latvia	7	4	0	0	3	24	17	+7	12
4	United States	7	3	1	0	3	25	21	+4	11
5	Germany	7	3	0	1	3	23	22	+1	10	Qualified for the 2027 IIHF World Championship
6	Austria	7	3	0	0	4	17	29	−12	9
7	Hungary	7	1	0	0	6	14	38	−24	3
8	Great Britain	7	0	0	0	7	7	35	−28	0	Relegated to the 2027 Division I A

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) seeding before tournament^[3]
(H) Host

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Canada	7	6	1	0	0	33	13	+20	20	Quarterfinals
2	Norway	7	4	1	1	1	25	14	+11	15
3	Czechia	7	4	0	1	2	19	17	+2	13
4	Sweden	7	4	0	0	3	27	16	+11	12
5	Slovakia	7	3	1	0	3	21	19	+2	11	Qualified for the 2027 IIHF World Championship
6	Denmark	7	1	1	1	4	15	26	−11	6[a]
7	Slovenia	7	1	1	1	4	13	25	−12	6[a]
8	Italy	7	0	0	1	6	5	28	−23	1	Relegated to the 2027 Division I A

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) seeding before tournament^[4]
Notes:

1. 1 2 Denmark 4–0 Slovenia

Bracket

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	28 May
	1A   Switzerland	3
					30 May
	4B  Sweden	1
					1   Switzerland	6
	28 May
					4  Norway	0
	1B  Canada	4
									31 May
	4A  United States	0
									1   Switzerland	0
	28 May
									3  Finland (OT)	1
	2A  Finland	4
					30 May
	3B  Czechia	1
					2  Canada	2
	28 May
					3  Finland	4			Third place
	2B  Norway	2
									31 May
	3A  Latvia	0
									2  Canada	2
									4  Norway (OT)	3

Final standings

Teams finishing fifth in the preliminary round were ranked ninth and tenth, teams finishing sixth were ranked 11th and 12th, and so on.^[5]

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Final Result
1	A	Finland	10	8	1	0	1	40	14	+26	26	Champions
2	A	Switzerland (H)	10	9	0	1	0	48	9	+39	28	Runners-up
3	B	Norway	10	5	2	1	2	30	22	+8	20	Third place
4	B	Canada	10	7	1	1	1	41	20	+21	24	Fourth place
5	B	Czechia	8	4	0	1	3	20	21	−1	13	Eliminated in Quarterfinals
6	A	Latvia	8	4	0	0	4	24	19	+5	12
7	B	Sweden	8	4	0	0	4	28	19	+9	12
8	A	United States	8	3	1	0	4	25	25	0	11
9	B	Slovakia	7	3	1	0	3	21	19	+2	11	Eliminated in Preliminary round
10	A	Germany	7	3	0	1	3	23	22	+1	10
11	A	Austria	7	3	0	0	4	17	29	−12	9
12	B	Denmark	7	1	1	1	4	15	26	−11	6
13	B	Slovenia	7	1	1	1	4	13	25	−12	6
14	A	Hungary	7	1	0	0	6	14	38	−24	3
15	B	Italy	7	0	0	1	6	5	28	−23	1	Relegated to the 2027 IIHF World Championship Division I
16	A	Great Britain	7	0	0	0	7	7	35	−28	0

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) position in the group; 2) number of points; 3) goal difference; 4) goals scored; 5) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Division I

Group A

The tournament was held in Sosnowiec, Poland from 2 to 8 May 2026.^[6]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Kazakhstan	5	3	2	0	0	20	8	+12	13	Promotion to the 2027 Top Division
2	Ukraine	5	3	0	1	1	14	12	+2	10
3	France	5	1	2	1	1	12	11	+1	8[a]
4	Poland (H)	5	2	0	2	1	12	12	0	8[a]
5	Lithuania	5	0	1	2	2	7	12	−5	4
6	Japan	5	0	1	0	4	9	19	−10	2	Relegation to the 2027 Division I B

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host
Notes:

1. 1 2 France 3–2 (GWS) Poland

Group B

The tournament was held in Shenzhen, China from 29 April to 5 May 2026.^[6]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Estonia	5	4	0	1	0	27	10	+17	13	Promotion to the 2027 Division I A
2	China (H)	5	2	2	0	1	21	16	+5	10[a]
3	Romania	5	3	0	1	1	19	9	+10	10[a]
4	South Korea	5	3	0	0	2	20	17	+3	9
5	Spain	5	1	0	0	4	11	25	−14	3
6	Netherlands	5	0	0	0	5	5	26	−21	0

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host
Notes:

1. 1 2 Romania 3–4 (OT) China

Division II

Group B

The tournament was held in Sofia, Bulgaria from 6 to 12 April 2026.^[6]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
1	Israel	5	3	2	0	0	26	14	+12	13
2	New Zealand	5	3	0	1	1	29	20	+9	10
3	Iceland	5	3	0	0	2	21	18	+3	9
4	Bulgaria (H)	5	2	0	0	3	15	21	−6	6
5	Kyrgyzstan	5	1	0	1	3	16	23	−7	4
6	Chinese Taipei	5	1	0	0	4	17	28	−11	3	Relegated to the 2027 Division III A

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Division III

Group A

The tournament was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 13 to 19 April 2026.^[6]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Turkey	5	5	0	0	0	28	10	+18	15	Promotion to the 2027 Division II B
2	Mexico	5	2	1	1	1	26	20	+6	9
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5	2	1	0	2	17	14	+3	8
4	South Africa (H)	5	2	0	1	2	17	26	−9	7
5	Thailand	5	1	1	0	3	18	29	−11	5
6	Turkmenistan	5	0	0	1	4	19	26	−7	1	Relegation to the 2027 Division III B

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Group B

The tournament was held in Hong Kong from 13 to 19 April 2026.^[6]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Uzbekistan	5	5	0	0	0	97	11	+86	15	Promotion to the 2027 Division III A
2	North Korea	5	4	0	0	1	28	32	−4	12
3	Hong Kong (H)	5	3	0	0	2	35	20	+15	9
4	Luxembourg	5	2	0	0	3	13	33	−20	6
5	Mongolia	5	1	0	0	4	27	56	−29	3
6	Philippines	5	0	0	0	5	15	63	−48	0

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Division IV

The tournament was scheduled to be held in Kuwait City, Kuwait from 12 to 18 April 2026.^[9] On 18 March 2026, the tournament was postponed due to the 2026 Iran war.^[7] A week later, the tournament was cancelled.^[10]

Teams

•  Armenia
•  Indonesia
•  Iran
•  Kuwait
•  Malaysia
•  Singapore

See also

• 2026 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships

References

External links

• Official website