The IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships 2023 are just around the corner, and here are some details. You can find out when and where it will happen as well as a few other details.
When
The championship will start on May 12, 2023 and the tournament will continue until May 28, 2023.
Where
The World Ice Hockey Championships will be held in Finland and Latvia. At Nokia Arena in Tampere and Arena Riga in Riga. Nokia Arena has a capacity of 13,455 seats and Arena Riga can hold 10,500 spectators, so the atmosphere can be very exciting in either arena.
Tournament format
The format of the tournament remains unchanged. It consists of group phase and playoffs.
Point system
Points will be awarded this way:
- 3 points for winning in regulation time
- 2 points for winning after overtime
- 1 points for losing after overtime
- 0 points for losing in regulation time
Group phase
There will be 2 groups in the tournament and single round-robin series in each group. Four best teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals. The eighth teams in both groups will be automatically relegated to the 1st A division (unless they are the host country for the next championship, more info below).
The teams in the groups are arranged according to the official IIHF ranking. For example, the team that finished in first place in the rankings will be in Group A and the team that finished in second place will be in Group B. The division into groups is usually decided at the IIHF Congress a year in advance. Due to marketing priorities, the organizers can, however, make minor changes to make both groups more appealing to fans.
Austria
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Hungary
Sweden
United States
Canada 
Czechia
Kazakhstan 
Latvia
Norway
Slovakia
Slovenia
SwitzerlandClick on the group or team name to see matches with results and without spoilers.
Relegation
The last two teams are relegated to the 1st A division, unless one of them is the host country for the next championship. Next year will be the host country Czechia, so Czech team will be in the top division even if they will be last in their group. In that case fourteenth team in overall tournament rating after group phase would be relegated. The top two teams from the 1st A division advance to the Top Division. In 2022, Hungary and Slovenia advanced to the Top Division.
Playoffs
Quarterfinals
Four best teams from each group will play cross-over games on one win by this key: 1A vs. 4B, 1B vs. 4A, 2A vs. 3B and 2B vs. 3A.
Winning teams will meet in the semifinals and losing teams will not participate in this tournament anymore.
Semifinals
Semifinal pairs will be formed as follows: the best team after quarterfinals will play with the fourth team and the second best team will face the third.
Finals
Semifinal winners will play for the gold medal.
Bronze medal game
Semifinal losers will play for the bronze medal.
List of matches
Here you can see an interactive list of the matches with results and without spoilers.
How to predict winners?
You can create a prediction group (for free) with friends here . Click “New group" and fill the name of your group.
Joining the group is easy: open group, select your nickname and click "Join this group". It works without registration, you can find more about predictions here .
Winners history
The most successful country with 52 medals (27 gold, 16 silver and 9 bronze) is Canada. Second is Russia with 47 medals (27 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze). Medals of the Soviet Union are counted here too. Third is Czechia with also 47 medals (12 gold, 13 silver and 22 bronze medals) and medals of Czechoslovakia are also counted here.
| # | Country | all medals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada | 27 | 16 | 9 | 52 |
| 2 |
Russia Soviet Union* Total |
5 22 27 |
3 7 10 |
5 5 10 |
13 34 47 |
| 3 |
Czechia Czechoslovakia* Total |
6 6 12 |
1 12 13 |
6 16 22 |
13 34 47 |
| 4 | Sweden | 11 | 19 | 17 | 47 |
| 5 | Finland | 4 | 9 | 3 | 16 |
| 6 | United States | 2 | 9 | 9 | 20 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | Slovakia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Switzerland | 0 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
| 10 |
Germany West Germany* Total |
0 0 0 |
1 1 2 |
2 0 2 |
3 1 4 |
| 11 | Austria | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
A few interesting facts about history of tournament:
- The first official tournament was held in Antwerp, Belgium at the 1920 Summer Olympics. At the tournament 7 countries participated: Canada (winner), Czechoslovakia, the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, France and Belgium.
- The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924. Those and the next one (in 1928) are also recognized as world tournaments in ice hockey.
- In 1930 was held the first individual Championship in Chamonix, France
