IIHF World Ranking

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]

The Men's 2023 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.

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.[5]

For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme.[6] On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC" (the full name "Russian Olympic Committee" could not be displayed), and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.[7]

Russia and Belarus were expelled from competing in the 2022 and 2023 World Championships 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. [8]

The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2022 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships,[9] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. 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.

2023 Rank	2022 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2023)	WC2023 (—) (100%)	WC2022 (100%) (75%)	OLY2022 (100%) (75%)	WC2021 (75%) (50%)	WC2020 (50%) (25%)	WC2019 (25%) (0%)	2023 Total	+/−	2022 Total	+/-
1	1	Finland	Championship	820	1200	1200	1160	1120	1200	3480		4130
2	2	Canada	Championship	820	1160	1040	1200	1200	1160	3370		3990
3	3	Russia	Expelled	820	1120	1160	1060	1160	1120	3350		3935
4	4	United States	Championship	860	1100	1060	1120	1040	1020	3300		3775
5	5	Sweden	Championship	820	1040	1100	960	1100	1060	3180		3675
6	6	Czech Republic	Championship	820	1120	960	1020	1060	1100	3155		3650	1
7	8	Slovakia	Championship	820	1000	1120	1000	960	960	3150	1	3590
8	7	Switzerland	Championship	820	1060	1000	1040	1000	1000	3135	1	3590	1
9	9	Germany	Championship	820	1020	940	1100	1020	1040	3095		3555
10	10	Denmark	Championship	820	960	1020	900	900	920	2980		3335
11	11	Latvia	Championship	820	940	920	920	940	940	2910		3255
12	12	Norway	Championship	820	880	880	880	920	900	2810		3105
13	13	France	Championship	820	900	860	840	800	840	2760		3000
14	14	Belarus	Expelled	820	860	840	840	880	780	2735		2965
15	15	Austria	Championship	820	920	800	780	780	820	2695		2900	2
16	16	Kazakhstan	Championship	820	860	700	940	840	800	2670		2885	1
17	19	Slovenia	Championship	820	800	820	740	740	740	2590	2	2730
18	17	Italy	Division I A	760	840	740	820	860	860	2570	1	2840	1
19	18	Great Britain	Division I A	800	820	660	860	820	880	2545	1	2755
20	20	Hungary	Championship	820	780	780	720	720	720	2530		2640	1
21	21	South Korea	Division I A	740	740	720	760	760	760	2405		2600	1
22	22	Poland	Division I A	780	700	760	700	660	660	2390		2480
23	24	Romania	Division I A	720	720	640	660	700	680	2265	1	2375	1
24	23	Lithuania	Division I A	700	760	600	680	680	700	2230	1	2385	1
25	25	Japan	Division I B	680	680	680	640	640	640	2180		2320
26	26	China	Division I B	640	600	900	500	480	480	2135		2235	1
27	27	Ukraine	Division I B	660	660	620	600	600	600	2070		2180	1
28	28	Estonia	Division I B	620	640	580	620	620	620	2000		2150	2
29	29	Netherlands	Division I B	600	580	560	580	560	580	1885		2000
30	30	Serbia	Division I B	580	620	500	560	580	560	1845		1970
31	31	Croatia	Division II A	520	560	540	540	540	540	1750		1910
32	32	Spain	Division II A	560	540	520	520	500	500	1740		1825
33	33	Israel	Division II A	480	520	420	460	460	440	1530		1625	1
34	34	Iceland	Division II A	460	480	480	440	420	420	1505		1605	1
35	36	Australia	Division II A	500	560	—	480	520	520	1290	1	1310
36	37	Bulgaria	Division II B	400	420	380	340	340	320	1255	1	1305
37	35	Mexico	Division II B	340	400	360	400	360	360	1200	2	1330
38	38	Turkey	Division II B	360	340	460	300	300	300	1185		1250
39	41	Georgia	Division II A	540	460	—	380	380	380	1170	2	1030	2
40	43	United Arab Emirates	Division II B	440	360	320	200	220	200	1105	3	990	1
41	40	Belgium	Division II B	420	440	—	420	440	460	1070	1	1090	1
42	39	Chinese Taipei	Division III A	320	300	440	240	240	240	1055	3	1100	1
43	42	New Zealand	Division II B	380	440	—	360	400	400	990	1	1010
44	44	Luxembourg	Division III A	240	280	300	280	260	260	880		985	3
45	46	Thailand	Division III A	260	220	340	140	160	160	790	1	785	1
46	48	Turkmenistan	Division III A	300	320	—	260	280	280	740	1	725
47	49	Kyrgyzstan	Division III B	200	160	400	100	100	100	695	2	710	1
48	47	Hong Kong	Division III B	160	220	280	180	180	180	670		770	1
49	50	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B	180	200	260	160	140	140	640	1	685	1
50	51	South Africa	Division III A	280	240	—	220	200	220	620	1	560	1
51	45	North Korea	Division III A	0	360	—	320	320	340	510	6	845
52	52	Kuwait	Division IV	40	80	240	120	120	120	370		500	1
53	55	Singapore	Division III B	140	120	—	40	—	—	250	2	150
54	53	Malaysia	Division III B	100	100	—	80	80	—	235	1	200
55	56	Iran	Division III B	120	140	—	—	—	—	225	1	140	new
56	54	Philippines	Division IV	80	100	—	60	60	—	200	2	175
57	59	Mongolia	Division IV	60	—	—	—	—	—	60	2
58	—	Indonesia	Division IV	20	—	—	—	—	—	20	new

The Women's 2023 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.

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.

For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme.[6] On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC" (the full name "Russian Olympic Committee" could not be displayed), and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.[7]

The following table lists the ranking following the 2022 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships,[9] and the calculations of the rankings following the 2023 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. 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.

2023 Rank	2022 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2023)	WC2023 (—) (100%)	WC2022 (100%) (75%)	OLY2022 (100%) (75%)	WC2021 (75%) (50%)	WC2020 (50%) (25%)	WC2019 (25%) (0%)	2023 Total	+/−	2022 Total	+/-
1	1	Canada	Championship	1160	1200	1200	1200	1160	1120	3850		4160
2	2	United States	Championship	1200	1160	1160	1160	1200	1200	3820		4090
3	4	Switzerland	Championship	1100	1100	1100	1100	1060	1060	3565	1	3820
4	3	Finland	Championship	1060	1040	1120	1120	1120	1160	3520	1	3850
5	6	Czech Republic	Championship	1120	1120	1020	1020	1020	1040	3490	1	3675	1
6	7	Japan	Championship	1020	1060	1040	1040	1040	1000	3375	1	3650	1
7	5	Russia	Expelled	940	1100	1060	1060	1100	1100	3365	2	3780
8	8	Sweden	Championship	1040	1020	1000	960	920	960	3265		3440
9	10	Germany	Championship	1000	960	860	1000	1000	1020	3115	1	3325	1
10	9	Hungary	Championship	960	1000	920	960	940	920	3115	1	3340	2
11	12	France	Championship	940	920	880	920	900	940	2975	1	3175
12	11	Denmark	Division I A	820	940	940	940	960	900	2940	1	3290	1
13	13	Norway	Division I A	820	900	840	880	880	880	2785		3060	1
13	14	Austria	Division I A	820	860	900	860	860	860	2785		3050	1
15	15	Slovakia	Division I A	820	880	820	840	840	840	2725		2960
16	16	China	Division I A	820	820	960	740	740	740	2710		2890	1
17	18	Netherlands	Division I A	820	840	740	780	820	800	2600	1	2775	1
18	17	Italy	Division I B	760	780	800	820	800	820	2555	1	2800	1
19	19	South Korea	Division I B	800	740	780	800	780	780	2535		2705	1
20	20	Poland	Division I B	780	800	760	760	760	760	2520		2700
21	22	Slovenia	Division I B	740	720	680	680	700	680	2305	1	2430
22	21	Kazakhstan	Division I B	700	760	660	720	720	720	2305	1	2500
23	23	Great Britain	Division I B	720	700	720	660	660	660	2280		2410
24	24	Spain	Division II A	660	660	700	640	640	640	2160		2320
25	25	Mexico	Division II A	640	620	640	620	620	620	2050		2190
26	26	Chinese Taipei	Division II A	620	640	620	540	580	560	1980		2095
27	27	Iceland	Division II A	600	580	600	520	540	520	1880		1970
28	28	Turkey	Division II B	460	540	580	580	500	500	1715		1930
29	29	Latvia	Division II A	680	680	—	700	680	700	1710		1720
30	30	Hong Kong	Division III A	440	360	560	460	340	380	1445		1530
31	33	Australia	Division II B	540	560	—	560	560	580	1380	2	1405
32	34	Lithuania	Division III A	400	440	520	340	360	—	1380	2	1395	2
33	32	Bulgaria	Division III A	360	420	540	360	380	360	1355	1	1510
34	35	New Zealand	Division II B	520	540	—	500	520	540	1305	1	1310	1
35	36	Croatia	Division II B	480	500	—	480	480	480	1215	1	1220	1
36	39	Belgium	Division II B	560	460	—	400	420	420	1210	3	1075
37	37	South Africa	Division II B	500	520	—	420	440	400	1210		1155	1
38	38	Ukraine	Division III A	420	460	—	380	460	440	1070		1085	2
39	40	Romania	Division III A	380	420	—	440	400	460	1015	1	1065	3
40	31	North Korea	Division II A	—	620	—	600	600	600	915	9	1520
41	41	Estonia	Division III A	340	340	—	320	—	—	755		580
42	42	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B	280	300	—	300	—	—	655		525
43	43	Serbia	Division III B	320	320	—	—	—	—	560		320	new
44	44	Israel	Division III B	300	280	—	—	—	—	510		280	new

• List of IIHF World Rankings

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