IIHF World Championship 2025 Preview

This year’s World Championship starts on the 9th of May with the final being held on the 25th of the month and it will be co-hosted by Sweden and Denmark. The matches will be played in Stockholm and in Herning with the Avicii Arena and the Jyske Bank Boxen being the chosen venues.

The two hosts qualify automatically as do the top 14 in the rankings after last year’s tournament and there are two counties that will be joining the tournament by winning promotion from Division One, these being Hungary and Slovenia.

There are two groups of eight teams each in the preliminary round, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and medal games. The host nations are in different groups but the current top two in the rankings, Canada and Finland are both drawn in Group A. Group A matches will all be played in Stockholm with Group B taking place in Herning. The team that finishes last in each of the groups will be relegated to the 2026 Division 1A for next season.

Group A

• Canada
• Finland
• Sweden
• Slovakia
• Latvia
• Austria
• France
• Slovenia

Group B

• Hungary
• Czechia
• Switzerland
• United States
• Germany
• Denmark
• Norway
• Kazakhstan

How is the tournament played?

Each team will face all of the other seven teams in their group, resulting in 28 games being played in each group. The opening day will see four matches taking place with Austria taking on Denmark and Sweden facing off against Slovakia from Group A and Switzerland against last year’s winners Czechia and joint hosts Denmark facing the USA. The top four from each group will go through to the final eight and play each other in the quarter-finals and will advance further from there. There will be a third place or bronze match game played and the gold and silver medals will be decided in the final on the 25th of May.

The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the Preliminary Round played in a single round robin.

The top four ranked teams of each group advance to the quarter-finals that will be played cross-over. The first-place team in each preliminary-round group plays the fourth-place team of the other group, while the second-place team plays the third-place team of the other group. 1A-4B, 2A-3B, 1B-4A, 2B-3A.

The venues and time slots of the quarter-final games will officially be determined following the conclusion of the preliminary round.

Group B is particularly competitive, featuring strong teams like the defending champion Czechia, Switzerland, and the United States. The newly promoted Hungary will be looking to make an impact in their return to the top division.

History

Last year it was Czechia that were triumphant winning at the 02 Arena in Prague. They managed to get the better of Switzerland, winning the match 2-0 with two goals in the third period. It was Switzerland’s first appearance in a final but it was the home side that won their first world title since 2010. That win for Czechia put them level with Sweden on 48 medals in total, but they are just ahead due to having more Gold medals. It is Canada who remain in first place. The overall medal table can be seen below:

This year it is Canada (2.25) who are favourites to win the tournament with one of the hosts, Sweden (4.0), not far behind in second spot. Last year’s winners, Czechia, are fourth favourites (9.0). For the second consecutive year, the USA are third favourites (6.5) and last year’s losing finalists Switzerland are available at a price of 13.0. Germany is at a big price (41.0) and the two newcomers, Slovenia and Hungary are both given close to no hope with a price of 2000/1.

Last updated: 07.05.25