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IIHF World Ranking

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Top 20 rankings as of May 2025[1]
Men's
Rank Change* Team Points
NR Increase 1  Russia 4030
1 Increase 4  United States 3985
2 Increase 2   Switzerland 3975
3 Decrease 3  Canada 3935
4 Increase 2  Sweden 3915
5 Decrease 2  Czech Republic 3860
6 Decrease 4  Finland 3780
7 Steady  Germany 3710
8 Increase 2  Denmark 3625
9 Decrease 1  Slovakia 3595
10 Decrease 1  Latvia 3585
11 Increase 1  Austria 3465
12 Decrease 1  Norway 3370
13 Increase 1  Kazakhstan 3265
14 Decrease 1  France 3255
NR Steady  Belarus 3205
15 Increase 2  Slovenia 3180
16 Steady  Hungary 3170
17 Decrease 2  Great Britain 3100
18 Steady  Italy 3025
Women's
Rank Change* Team Points
1 Increase 1  United States 4150
2 Decrease 1  Canada 4140
3 Steady  Finland 3930
4 Steady  Czech Republic 3920
5 Steady   Switzerland 3855
NR Steady  Russia 3790
6 Increase 1  Sweden 3730
7 Decrease 1  Japan 3705
8 Steady  Germany 3635
9 Steady  Hungary 3475
10 Steady  Denmark 3425
11 Increase 2  Norway 3405
12 Decrease 1  China 3365
13 Increase 1  Austria 3345
14 Decrease 2  France 3340
15 Steady  Slovakia 3215
16 Steady  Netherlands 3175
17 Increase 1  Italy 3045
18 Decrease 1  South Korea 3015
19 Increase 1  Great Britain 2930

The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years. The ranking is used to determine seedings and qualification requirements for future IIHF tournaments. The United States' teams are ranked first in both men's and women's play. Russia's men team has more points overall in the men's rankings but is excluded from the list due to its ongoing suspension from IIHF competition.

Description

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The system was approved at the IIHF congress of September 2003.[2] According to former IIHF President René Fasel, the system was designed to be simple to understand and "reflect the long-term quality of all national hockey programs and their commitment to international hockey".[3]

The ranking is used to determine the seeding of the teams for the next World Championship and to select the teams which can participate in Winter Olympics without playing in the qualifying round. For example, for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the first eight teams of the Men's World Ranking and the first six of the Women's World Ranking were pre-qualified. Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2019 ranking. Twelve spots were made available for teams. The top eight teams in the World Ranking after the 2019 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. All IIHF teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams that wished to participate ranked below 36th played in two preliminary qualifications in November 2019. The two winners of the first preliminaries and teams ranked 27–36th were divided in three groups to play in the second pre-qualification round in December 2019. The three winners of those preliminaries joined teams ranked 18–26th for the third pre-qualification round of three groups in February 2020. The winner of each of these pre-qualification groups and teams ranked 9–17 were divided in three groups to play in the final qualification in August 2021. The winner of each group then joined the eight top-ranked teams plus the host in the Olympics in 2022.

The women's tournament uses a similar qualification format. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship received automatic berths into the ice hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 16th and below were divided into three groups where they played in a preliminary qualification round in the October 2021. The three group winners from the round advanced to the final qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through fifteenth joined them.[4]

Formula

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The world ranking is based on the final positions of the last four Men's or Women's IIHF World Championships and last Olympic ice hockey tournament. Points are assigned according to a team's final placement in the World Championship or the Olympic tournament. The world champion receives 1600 points and then a 20-point interval is used between teams. However, a 40-point interval is used between gold and silver, silver and bronze, fourth and fifth, and eighth and ninth. This is used as a bonus for the teams who reach the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the final and for winning the gold medal.[1] Prior to 2023, the world champion received 1200 points, with other teams receiving the same point interval decreases.

Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ...
Points 1600 1560 1520 1500 1460 1440 1420 1400 1360 1340 1320 1300 1280 1260 1240 1220 1200 1180 1160 1140 ...

Points awarded in the current year are valued at the full amount. Points award in the prior years decline linearly by 25% until the fifth year when they are dropped from the calculation. Under this formula, any year with a World Championship and an Olympics will be counted twice in the tables[a], for a maximum ranking (gold medal in all five events) of: 5600 points at the completion of an Olympic year, 5200 points at the completion of the following year, 4800 points the next year, and 4400 points in the year before the next Olympics. For example, if after the 2026 Championship a team had won the gold medal in the last four championships and the last Olympic tournament, their score would be 5600:[b]

Competition Valuation
coefficient
Points
2026 IIHF World Championship 100% 1600
2026 Winter Olympics 100% 1600
2025 IIHF World Championship 75% 1200
2024 IIHF World Championship 50% 800
2023 IIHF World Championship 25% 400
2022 IIHF World Championship 0% 0
2022 Winter Olympics 0% 0
Counts five tournaments from four latest years 5600
  1. ^ From April 2014 to August 2022, Women's rankings counted Olympics points twice, to be on same formula as Men's rankings, as no Women's top division World Championship was held in Olympic years. This changed with the Women's top division starting to be held in Olympic years in 2022.
  2. ^ Due to the point value change from 2023, tournaments from 2020-2022 will still use the 1200 point values in the formula.

Men's rankings

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The current men's ranking (as of May 2025) is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022, and at the Olympic ice hockey tournament of 2022. In the upcoming February 2026 rankings, points from the 2026 Olympic tournament will be added and points from the 2022 Olympics will be dropped.

Russia and Belarus were expelled from competing in all World Championships since 2022 because of their invasion of Ukraine. They were, however, granted the points of the positions they would have been seeded based on their 2021 ranking: in 2022, Russia in third place received 1120 points, and Belarus in 14th place received 860 points. Several nations withdrew from the 2022 World Championships over COVID-19 concerns. These nations similarly received the points of the positions they would have been seeded within their respective tournaments: Australia as second place in IIA received 560 points, New Zealand as third place in IIB received 440 points, North Korea as first place in IIIA received 360 points, Hong Kong as second place in IIIB received 220 points, and the Philippines as fourth place in IV received 100 points.[5]

The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2025 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships[6] and the calculations of the rankings during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

Feb
2026
Rank
2025
Rank
Team WC division
(as of 2025)
OLY2026
(—)
(100%)
WC2025
(100%)
(100%)
WC2024
(75%)
(75%)
WC2023
(50%)
(50%)
WC2022
(25%)
(25%)
OLY2022
(25%)
(0%)
Feb
2026
Total
+/− 2025
Total
+/−
NR NR  Russia Expelled 1600 1560 1520 1520 1120 1160 5340 Steady 4030 Increase 1
1 1  United States Championship 1600 1600 1460 1500 1100 1060 5320 Steady 3985 Increase 4
2 3  Canada Championship 1560 1460 1500 1600 1160 1040 5235 Increase 1 3935 Decrease 3
3 2   Switzerland Championship 1460 1560 1560 1460 1060 1000 5185 Decrease 1 3975 Increase 2
4 4  Sweden Championship 1420 1520 1520 1440 1040 1100 5060 Steady 3915 Increase 2
5 5  Czech Republic Championship 1400 1440 1600 1400 1120 960 5020 Steady 3860 Decrease 2
6 6  Finland Championship 1520 1420 1400 1420 1200 1200 5000 Steady 3780 Decrease 4
7 7  Germany Championship 1440 1360 1440 1560 1020 940 4915 Steady 3710 Steady
8 9  Slovakia Championship 1500 1320 1420 1360 1000 1120 4815 Increase 1 3595 Decrease 1
9 8  Denmark Championship 1360 1500 1280 1340 960 1020 4730 Decrease 1 3625 Increase 2
10 10  Latvia Championship 1340 1340 1360 1520 940 920 4695 Steady 3585 Decrease 1
11 11  Austria Championship 1200 1400 1340 1260 920 800 4465 Steady 3465 Increase 1
12 12  Norway Championship 1280 1300 1320 1280 880 880 4430 Steady 3370 Decrease 1
13 14  France Championship 1320 1220 1260 1300 900 860 4360 Increase 1 3255 Decrease 1
14 13  Kazakhstan Championship 1260 1240 1300 1320 860 700 4350 Decrease 1 3265 Increase 1
15 15  Slovenia Championship 1240 1280 1180 1220 800 820 4215 Steady 3180 Increase 2
NR NR  Belarus Expelled 1220 1220 1240 1260 860 840 4215 Steady 3205 Steady
16 17  Great Britain Division I A 1220 1200 1240 1200 820 660 4155 Increase 1 3100 Decrease 2
17 18  Italy Division I A 1300 1180 1160 1160 840 740 4140 Increase 1 3025 Steady
18 16  Hungary Championship 1160 1260 1200 1240 780 780 4135 Decrease 2 3170 Steady
19 19  Poland Division I A 1080 1120 1220 1180 700 760 3880 Steady 2990 Steady
20 20  Japan Division I A 1180 1140 1120 1080 680 680 3870 Steady 2860 Increase 2
21 21  Romania Division I A 1120 1100 1140 1120 720 640 3815 Steady 2855 Steady
22 22  Ukraine Division I A 1140 1160 1080 1060 660 620 3805 Steady 2820 Increase 3
23 23  South Korea Division I B 1100 1060 1100 1140 740 720 3740 Steady 2820 Decrease 3
24 24  Lithuania Division I B 1060 1080 1060 1100 760 600 3675 Steady 2765 Decrease 1
25 26  Estonia Division I B 1020 1040 1040 1020 640 580 3510 Increase 1 2635 Steady
26 25  China Division I B 1040 1020 1020 1040 600 900 3495 Decrease 1 2680 Decrease 1
27 27  Spain Division I B 1000 1000 1000 960 540 520 3365 Steady 2495 Increase 1
28 28  Netherlands Division II A 960 960 980 1000 580 560 3300 Steady 2480 Decrease 1
29 30  Serbia Division II A 980 940 940 980 620 500 3270 Increase 1 2415 Decrease 1
30 29  Croatia Division I B 940 980 960 940 560 540 3250 Decrease 1 2445 Increase 1
31 33  Iceland Division II B 920 820 860 880 480 480 2945 Increase 2 2145 Decrease 1
32 32  United Arab Emirates Division II A 780 920 920 840 360 320 2900 Steady 2200 Increase 2
33 36  Bulgaria Division II B 820 780 780 800 420 380 2690 Increase 3 1965 Decrease 1
34 38  Chinese Taipei Division II B 880 760 760 720 300 440 2645 Increase 4 1875 Steady
35 39  Turkey Division III A 840 680 740 760 340 460 2540 Increase 4 1815 Decrease 3
36 40  Thailand Division II B 800 740 720 660 220 340 2465 Increase 4 1750 Increase 1
37 45  Georgia Division II B 900 840 800 0[a] 460 2455 Increase 8 1555 Increase 3
38 46  South Africa Division III A 860 660 640 680 240 2400 Increase 8 1540 Decrease 1
39 41  Kyrgyzstan Division III A 760 720 700 600 160 400 2345 Increase 2 1685 Increase 2
40 47  Bosnia and Herzegovina Division III A 720 640 600 580 200 260 2150 Increase 7 1495 Decrease 1
41 34  Australia Division II A 880 880 920 560 2140 Decrease 7 2140 Decrease 1
42 31  Israel Division II A 860 900 900 520 420 2115 Decrease 11 2220 Steady
43 48  Hong Kong Division III B 740 560 560 560 220 280 2055 Increase 5 1385 Decrease 1
44 35  Belgium Division II A 900 840 820 440 2050 Decrease 9 2050 Increase 2
45 37  New Zealand Division II B 800 820 780 440 1915 Decrease 8 1915 Increase 2
46 54  Iran Division IV 680 400 500 520 140 1750 Increase 8 1070 Decrease 2
47 53  Kuwait Division IV 700 440 460 440 80 240 1725 Increase 6 1085 Decrease 3
48 42  Turkmenistan Division III A 700 660 700 320 1625 Decrease 6 1625 Increase 2
49 43  Mexico Division III B 600 620 740 400 360 1535 Decrease 6 1625 Decrease 3
50 44  Luxembourg Division III A 620 680 640 280 300 1520 Decrease 6 1595 Decrease 2
51 50  Singapore Division III B 500 520 540 120 1190 Increase 1 1190 Decrease 1
52 49  Philippines Division III B 520 540 480 100 1190 Decrease 1 1190 Increase 2
53 51  Mongolia Division III B 540 480 460 1130 Steady 1130 Increase 4
54 52  North Korea Division III B 580 580 360 1105 Steady 1105 Increase 2
55 55  Malaysia Division IV 380 420 500 100 970 Steady 970 Decrease 2
56 56  Indonesia Division IV 420 440 420 960 Steady 960 Steady
57 57  Uzbekistan Division IV 480 480 Steady 480 new
58 58  Armenia Division IV 460 460 Steady 460 Steady
  1. ^ Georgia's result in 2023 was invalidated by the IIHF.

Women's rankings

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The current women's ranking (as of April 2025) is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022, and at the Olympic ice hockey tournament of 2022. In the upcoming February 2026 rankings, points from the 2026 Olympic tournament will be added and points from the 2022 Olympics will be dropped.

The following table lists the ranking following the 2025 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships.[6] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2026 Winter Olympics. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

Feb
2026
Rank
2025
Rank
Team WC division
(as of 2025)
OLY2026
(—)
(100%)
WC2025
(100%)
(100%)
WC2024
(75%)
(75%)
WC2023
(50%)
(50%)
WC2022
(25%)
(25%)
OLY2022
(25%)
(0%)
Feb
2026
Total
+/− 2025
Total
+/−
1 1  United States Championship 1600 1600 1560 1600 1160 1160 5460 Steady 4150 Increase 1
2 2  Canada Championship 1560 1560 1600 1560 1200 1200 5400 Steady 4140 Decrease 1
3 4  Czech Republic Championship 1460 1500 1500 1520 1120 1020 5125 Increase 1 3920 Steady
4 5   Switzerland Championship 1520 1460 1460 1500 1100 1100 5100 Increase 1 3855 Steady
5 3  Finland Championship 1440 1520 1520 1460 1040 1120 5090 Decrease 2 3930 Steady
6 6  Sweden Championship 1500 1440 1420 1440 1020 1000 4980 Steady 3730 Increase 1
NR NR  Russia Expelled 1440 1440 1440 1460 1100 1060 4965 Steady 3790 Steady
7 8  Germany Championship 1420 1400 1440 1400 960 860 4840 Increase 1 3635 Steady
8 7  Japan Championship 1360 1420 1400 1420 1060 1040 4805 Decrease 1 3705 Decrease 1
9 9  Hungary Championship 1300 1340 1300 1360 1000 920 4545 Steady 3475 Steady
10 10  Denmark Division I A 1320 1300 1340 1300 940 940 4510 Steady 3425 Steady
11 14  France Division I A 1340 1260 1280 1340 920 880 4460 Increase 3 3340 Decrease 2
12 11  Norway Championship 1260 1360 1320 1240 900 840 4455 Decrease 1 3405 Increase 2
13 13  Austria Division I A 1280 1320 1260 1280 860 900 4400 Steady 3345 Increase 1
14 12  China Division I A 1240 1240 1360 1320 820 960 4365 Decrease 2 3365 Decrease 1
15 17  Italy Division I B 1400 1200 1160 1160 780 800 4245 Increase 2 3045 Increase 1
16 16  Netherlands Division I A 1220 1220 1240 1260 840 740 4210 Steady 3175 Steady
17 15  Slovakia Division I A 1180 1280 1200 1220 880 820 4190 Decrease 2 3215 Steady
18 18  South Korea Division I B 1140 1120 1220 1200 740 780 3960 Steady 3015 Decrease 1
19 19  Great Britain Division I B 1160 1160 1140 1120 700 720 3910 Steady 2930 Increase 1
20 20  Poland Division II A 1200 1060 1100 1180 800 760 3875 Steady 2865 Decrease 1
21 23  Latvia Division I B 1100 1180 1180 1080 680 3875 Increase 2 2775 Increase 3
22 22  Kazakhstan Division I B 1120 1140 1080 1100 760 660 3810 Steady 2855 Steady
23 21  Slovenia Division I B 1080 1100 1120 1140 720 680 3770 Decrease 2 2860 Steady
24 24  Spain Division II A 1020 1080 1060 1060 660 700 3590 Steady 2745 Decrease 1
25 26  Mexico Division II A 1060 980 1040 1040 620 640 3495 Increase 1 2595 Decrease 2
26 25  Chinese Taipei Division II A 1040 1020 1020 1020 640 620 3495 Decrease 1 2610 Steady
27 27  Iceland Division II A 1000 1040 1000 1000 580 600 3435 Steady 2585 Steady
28 29  Turkey Division II B 980 860 880 860 540 580 3095 Decrease 1 2260 Decrease 1
29 33  Lithuania Division III A 960 840 800 800 440 520 2910 Decrease 2 2080 Steady
30 36  Croatia Division III A 920 760 760 880 500 2815 Increase 6 1895 Steady
31 38  Romania Division III A 900 780 820 780 420 2790 Increase 5 1890 Steady
32 37  Bulgaria Division III B 940 720 740 760 420 540 2700 Increase 5 1895 Decrease 2
33 40  Serbia Division III A 860 800 780 720 320 2685 Increase 7 1825 Steady
34 41  Estonia Division III B 880 680 700 740 340 2540 Increase 7 1660 Decrease 2
35 28  Australia Division II B 960 940 940 560 2275 Decrease 7 2275 Increase 2
36 30  Belgium Division II B 900 980 960 460 2230 Decrease 6 2230 Increase 1
37 32  New Zealand Division II B 940 900 920 540 2210 Decrease 5 2210 Steady
38 44  Thailand Division III A 840 820 720 2200 Decrease 6 1360 Steady
39 31  Hong Kong Division II B 880 920 840 380 560 2085 Decrease 8 2225 Decrease 2
40 34  Ukraine Division II B 920 840 820 460 2075 Decrease 6 2075 Increase 3
41 35  South Africa Division III A 740 860 900 520 1965 Decrease 6 1965 Decrease 1
42 39  North Korea Division II A 1000 960 620 1875 Decrease 3 1875 Increase 2
43 42  Israel Division III B 700 680 700 280 1630 Decrease 1 1630 Increase 1
44 43  Bosnia and Herzegovina Division III B 660 660[1] 680 300 1570 Decrease 1 1570 Decrease 1
45 45  Singapore Division III B 640 660 1135 Steady 1135 Steady

See also

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Notes

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^  Bosnia and Herzegovina seems to have been given an incorrect score in 2024. They were shown to have 1395 points in the 2024 World Ranking list[7] which calculates to earning 660 points that year instead of the 640 points they should have earned for 46th place. Singapore was also awarded 660 points.

References

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  1. ^ a b "IIHF – World Ranking". iihf.com. IIHF. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  2. ^ Hockey Canada (30 September 2003). "IIHF Introduces World Ranking and Ranks Canada First in Men's and Women's Hockey". Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  3. ^ Edvinsson, Jan-Ake, ed. (November 2003). "News release–Hockey fans are the best in the world" (PDF). Ice Times. 7 (5). International Ice Hockey Federation: 7. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Olympic Winter Games". International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Finland Stays #1 in World Ranking". iihf.com. IIHF. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  6. ^ a b "IIHF - World Ranking". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  7. ^ "IIHF – World Ranking (2024 Archive)". iihf.com. IIHF. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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