IIHF World Ranking

Top 20 rankings as of Sep. 2021^[1]

Men's Rank Change* Team Points 1  Canada 3235 2 1  Finland 3125 3 1  Russia 3050 4 2  United States 2945 5 2  Germany 2905 6 1  Czech Republic 2895 7 3  Sweden 2880 8   Switzerland 2815 9  Slovakia 2670 10  Latvia 2560 11  Norway 2490 12  Denmark 2470 13 3  Kazakhstan 2365 14 1  Belarus 2320 15 1  France 2295 16 3  Great Britain 2280 17 2  Italy 2280 18 1  Austria 2185 19 1  South Korea 2140 20  Slovenia 2085

Women's Rank Change* Team Points 1  United States 3260 2  Canada 3210 3  Finland 3100 4  Russia 2985 5   Switzerland 2955 6  Japan 2840 7  Czech Republic 2795 8  Germany 2740 9  Sweden 2640 10 2  Hungary 2560 11  Denmark 2555 12 2  France 2535 13  Norway 2425 14  Austria 2385 15  Slovakia 2305 16 1  Italy 2250 17 1  South Korea 2230 18  Netherlands 2155 19 1  Poland 2070 20 1  China 2045

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 current leader in rankings is Canada in men's play and the United States in women's play.

Description[]

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[]

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 1200 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]

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, for a maximum ranking (gold medal in all five events) of: 4200 points at the completion of an Olympic year, 3900 points at the completion of the following year, 3600 points the next year, and 3300 points in the year before the next Olympics. For example, if after the 2020 Championship a team had won the gold medal in the last four championships and the last Olympic tournament, their score would be 3600:

Men's rankings[]

The Men's 2022 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, and at the 2022 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Beijing, China.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics, Russia's Olympic Committee and many of its athletes were banned for illegal doping.^[5] The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players,^[6] concerned that the KHL would disallow its players from participating in the tournament, as the NHL had done. The ice hockey team from the Russian hockey federation played under the banner of the International Olympic Committee as "Olympic Athletes from Russia", along with other Russian athletes not banned for doping.

All tournaments in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the 2019 World Ranking, while the remaining divisions received points based on the previous year's results. For a fairer ranking and point distribution, the IIHF Council decided that the points for 2021 in case of tournament cancellations are given according to the ranking position of each team in the 2021 Pre-Championship Report – taking into consideration the results in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – rather than by seeding as in the past.^[7]

The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships,^[8] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2022 Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament. 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.

2022 Rank	OLY 2022 Rank	2021 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2021)	WC2022 (—) (100%)	OLY2022 (100%) (100%)	WC2021 (100%) (75%)	WC2020 (75%) (50%)	WC2019 (50%) (25%)	WC2018 (25%) (0%)	OLY2018 (0%) (0%)	2022 Total	+/-	OLY 2022 Total	+/−	2021 Total	+/−
	1	2	Finland	Championship		1200	1160	1120	1200	1060	1040			4065	1	3125	1
	2	1	Canada	Championship		1040	1200	1200	1160	1100	1120			3995	1	3235
	3	3	Russia	Championship		1160	1060	1160	1120	1040	1200			3910		3050	1
	4	4	United States	Championship		1060	1120	1040	1020	1120	1020			3750		2945	2
	5	7	Sweden	Championship		1100	960	1100	1060	1200	1060			3715	2	2880	3
	6	8	Switzerland	Championship		1000	1040	1000	1000	1160	940			3580	2	2815
	7	6	Czech Republic	Championship		960	1020	1060	1100	1020	1100			3580	1	2895	1
	8	9	Slovakia	Championship		1120	1000	960	960	960	920			3560	1	2670
	9	5	Germany	Championship		940	1100	1020	1040	920	1160			3555	4	2905	2
	10	12	Denmark	Championship		1020	900	900	920	940	800			3290	2	2470
	11	10	Latvia	Championship		920	920	940	940	1000	860			3265	1	2560
	12	11	Norway	Championship		880	880	920	900	880	1000			3120	1	2490
	13	15	France	Division I A		860	840	800	840	900	840			2945	2	2295	1
	14	14	Belarus	Championship		840	840	880	780	840	880			2940		2320	1
	15	13	Kazakhstan	Championship		700	940	840	800	760	820			2860	2	2365	3
	16	17	Italy	Championship		740	820	860	860	780	760			2830	1	2280	2
	17	18	Austria	Division I A		800	780	780	820	860	780			2790	1	2185	1
	18	16	Great Britain	Championship		660	860	820	880	800	660			2775	2	2280	3
	19	20	Slovenia	Division I A		820	740	740	740	720	960			2665	1	2085
	20	19	South Korea	Division I A		720	760	760	760	820	900			2635	1	2140	1
	21	21	Hungary	Division I A		780	720	720	720	740	700			2585		1980
	22	22	Poland	Division I B		760	700	660	660	700	740			2460		1885
	23	24	Romania	Division I A		640	660	700	680	600	580			2315	1	1820	1
	24	23	Lithuania	Division I B		600	680	680	700	680	560			2310	1	1850
	25	25	Japan	Division I B		680	640	640	640	660	720			2285		1785	1
	26	26	Estonia	Division I B		580	620	620	620	640	600			2135		1705	1
	27	32	China	Division II A		900	500	480	480	500	440			2125	5	1335
	28	27	Ukraine	Division I B		620	600	600	600	620	680			2125	1	1675	1
	29	28	Netherlands	Division II A		560	580	560	580	560	640			1990	1	1590
	30	29	Serbia	Division I B		500	560	580	560	520	540			1905	1	1540	1
	31	30	Croatia	Division II A		540	540	540	540	580	620			1900	1	1515	1
	32	31	Spain	Division II A		520	520	500	500	440	520			1775	1	1385
	33	35	Iceland	Division II B		480	440	420	420	460	480			1560	2	1200	2
	34	34	Israel	Division II A		420	460	460	440	400	460			1545		1240
	35	37	Mexico	Division II B		360	400	360	360	360	500			1300	2	1065
	36	33	Australia	Division II A		—	480	520	520	540	—			1265	3	1265	2
	37	40	Bulgaria	Division II B		380	340	340	320	300	420			1210	3	935
	38	42	Turkey	Division III A		460	300	300	300	280	—			1205	4	745
	39	36	Belgium	Division II B		—	420	440	460	480	—			1100	3	1100
	40	45	Chinese Taipei	Division III A		440	240	240	240	260	—			1045	5	605	1
	41	43	Luxembourg	Division III A		300	280	260	260	340	—			990	2	690
	42	39	New Zealand	Division II B		—	360	400	400	420	—			965	3	965
	43	38	Georgia	Division II B		—	380	380	380	320	400			935	5	1035
	44	47	United Arab Emirates	Division III A		320	200	220	200	160	—			825	3	505
	45	41	North Korea	Division III A		—	320	320	340	380	—			825	4	825
	46	48	Hong Kong	Division III B		280	180	180	180	220	—			740	2	460
	47	50	Thailand	Division III B		340	140	160	160	—	—			680	3	340
	48	44	Turkmenistan	Division III A		—	260	280	280	200	—			660	4	660	1
	49	49	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B		260	160	140	140	180	—			640		380
	50	52	Kyrgyzstan	Division IV		400	100	100	100	—	—			625	2	225
	51	51	Kuwait	Division IV		240	120	120	120	140	—			545		305
	52	46	South Africa	Division III B		—	220	200	220	240	—			540	6	540
	53	53	Malaysia	Division IV		—	80	80	—	—	—			140		140
	54	54	Philippines	Division IV		—	60	60	—	—	—			105		105
	55	55	Singapore	Division IV		—	40	—	—	—	—			40		40	new

Women's rankings[]

The Women's 2022 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, and at the 2022 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Beijing, China.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics, Russia's Olympic Committee and many of its athletes were banned due to systemic illegal doping.^[5] The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players^[6] and the ice hockey team from the Russian hockey federation played under the banner of the International Olympic Committee as "Olympic Athletes from Russia", along with other Russian athletes not banned for doping.

Most of the tournaments in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the 2019 World Ranking, while Divisions IA, IB, and IIA received points based on the previous year's results. Divisions IIB and III were completed and scored as scheduled.

The following table lists the ranking following the 2021 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships,^[8] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2022 Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament. 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.

2022 Rank	OLY 2022 Rank	2021 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2021)	WC2022 (—) (100%)	OLY2022 (100%) (100%)	WC2021 (100%) (75%)	WC2020 (75%) (50%)	WC2019 (50%) (25%)	WC2018 (25%) (0%)	OLY2018 (0%) (0%)	2022 Total	+/-	OLY 2022 Total	+/−	2021 Total	+/−
	1	2	Canada	Championship		1200	1200	1160	1120	1160	1160			4120	1	3210
	2	1	United States	Championship		1160	1160	1200	1200	1200	1200			4120	1	3260
	3	3	Finland	Championship		1120	1120	1120	1160	1120	1120			3940		3100
	4	5	Switzerland	Championship		1100	1100	1060	1060	1060	1060			3790	1	2955
	5	4	Russia	Championship		1060	1060	1100	1100	1100	1100			3770	1	2985
	6	6	Japan	Championship		1040	1040	1040	1000	1040	1040			3620		2840
	7	7	Czech Republic	Championship		1020	1020	1020	1040	1000	960			3575		2795
	8	9	Sweden	Division I A		1000	960	920	960	1020	1020			3385	1	2640
	9	8	Germany	Championship		860	1000	1000	1020	980	940			3365	1	2740
	10	11	Denmark	Championship		940	940	960	900	900	880			3275	1	2555
	11	10	Hungary	Championship		920	960	940	920	920	820			3275	1	2560	2
	12	12	France	Division I A		880	920	900	940	960	920			3185		2535	2
	13	14	Austria	Division I A		900	860	860	860	940	860			3070	1	2385
	14	13	Norway	Division I A		840	880	880	880	880	900			3040	1	2425
	15	15	Slovakia	Division I A		820	840	840	840	860	800			2925		2305
	16	16	Italy	Division I B		800	820	800	820	840	840			2840		2250	1
	17	20	China	Division I B		960	740	740	740	760	760			2815	3	2045	1
	18	17	South Korea	Division I B		780	800	780	780	820	1000			2760	1	2230	1
	19	18	Netherlands	Division I A		740	780	820	800	720	720			2715	1	2155
	20	19	Poland	Division I B		760	760	760	760	740	700			2655	1	2070	1
	21	21	Kazakhstan	Division I B		660	720	720	720	780	740			2475		2000
	22	23	Slovenia	Division I B		680	680	700	680	640	620			2385	1	1860	1
	23	24	Great Britain	Division II A		720	660	660	660	700	660			2380	1	1825	1
	24	25	Spain	Division II A		700	640	640	640	600	680			2290	1	1760
	25	26	Mexico	Division II A		640	620	620	620	620	640			2190	1	1710
	26	30	Chinese Taipei	Division II A		620	540	580	560	580	—			2020	4	1400
	27	31	Iceland	Division II B		600	520	540	520	560	—			1925	4	1325
	28	28	Turkey	Division II B		580	580	500	500	520	600			1915		1485	1
	29	22	Latvia	Division II A		—	700	680	700	800	780			1760	7	1955
	30	34	Hong Kong	Division III		560 or 0 ?	460	340	380	420	580			1570 or 1010	4	1155	1
	31	27	North Korea	Division II A		—	600	600	600	680	—			1520	4	1520	1
	32	39	Bulgaria	Division III		540 or 0 ?	360	380	360	400	—			1465 or 925	7	925	1
	33	29	Australia	Division II B		—	560	560	580	660	—			1435	4	1435
	34	32	New Zealand	Division II B		—	500	520	540	540	—			1295	2	1295
	35	33	Croatia	Division II B		—	480	480	480	480	—			1200	2	1200	2
	36	40	Lithuania	Division III		520 or 0 ?	340	360	—	—	—			1130 or 610	4	610
	37	35	Romania	Division III		—	440	400	460	500	—			1095	2	1095	1
	38	36	South Africa	Division II B		—	420	440	400	440	—			1060	2	1060	1
	39	37	Belgium	Division III		—	400	420	420	460	—			1040	2	1040	1
	40	38	Ukraine	Division III		—	380	460	440	—	—			945	2	945	1
	41	41	Estonia	Division III		—	320	—	—	—	—			320		320	new
	42	42		Division III		—	300	—	—	—	—			300		300	new

See also[]

• List of IIHF World Rankings

References[]

External links[]

• World Ranking for the current year at IIHF.com
• World Rankings from 2007 to 2018 at IIHF.com