2026 IIHF Women's World Championship

See also: 2026 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships

2026 IIHF Women's World Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Denmark
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	6–16 November
Teams	10
←  2025 2027  →

The 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship will be the 25th edition of the IIHF Women's World Championship, an international ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), contested in Herning and another city to be determined, Denmark from 6 to 16 November 2026. ^[1]

Host selection

The following two countries chose to bid:

•   Canada
•   Denmark

Due to scheduling issues, the hosts announcement was delayed to October 2025. ^[2] On 3 October 2025, Denmark was awarded the hosting rights at the Semi Annual Congress in Nice, with Herning and an unknown second city hosting the tournament. ^{[3] [4]} This marks Denmark's second time hosting after 2022.

Participants

Ten teams will take part in the competition for the seventh time. Hungary and Norway were immediately relegated back to Division I after only appearing in the 2025 edition. They will be replaced by Division I champions Austria, who will make their debut in the top division, and runners-up, Denmark, who secured their immediate promotion back to the top division. Denmark would later be awarded the hosting rights as well.

Qualification	Host	Dates	Vacancies	Qualified
Top eight in 2025	České Budějovice	9–20 April 2025	8	United States   Canada   Finland   Czechia    Switzerland   Sweden   Japan   Germany
Promoted from Division I	Shenzhen	13–19 April 2025	2	Austria   Denmark (H)

Summary of qualified teams

Team	Qualification method	Appearance(s)				Previous best performance	Rank [5]
		Total	First	Last	Streak
United States	First in 2025	25th	1990	2025	25	Champions (Eleven times) [a]	1
Canada	Second in 2025	25th			25	Champions (Thirteen times) [b]	2
Finland	Third in 2025	25th			25	Runners-up (2019)	3
Czechia	Fourth in 2025	10th	2012		9	Third place (2022, 2023)	4
Switzerland	Fifth in 2025	21st	1990		16	Third place (2012)	5
Sweden	Sixth in 2025	24th			5	Third place (2005, 2007)	6
Japan	Seventh in 2025	12th			7	Fifth place (2022)	7
Germany	Eighth in 2025	19th			8	Fourth place (2017)	8
Austria	Top two in Division I	1st	Debut				13
Denmark		4th	2021	2024	1	Tenth place (2021, 2022, 2024)	10

Groups composition

The serpentine system was used to organise the groups (rankings in brackets).

Group A   United States (1)   Czechia (4)    Switzerland (5)   Germany (8)   Austria (9)

Group B   Canada (2)   Finland (3)   Sweden (6)   Japan (7)   Denmark (10)

Format

The teams will be split into two groups, using the serpentine system. The top four teams continue to the knockout phase, while the bottom teams will be relegated. During the knockout stage, there will be a re-seeding after the quarterfinals. ^[6]

Preliminary round

The groups were based on the final rankings from the previous tournament.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Quarterfinals
2	Czechia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Switzerland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Germany	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Austria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to 2025 Division I

First match(es) will be played: 6 November 2026. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Canada	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Quarterfinals
2	Finland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Sweden	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Denmark (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to 2025 Division I

First match(es) will be played: 6 November 2026. Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head number of goals scored; 5) result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; 6) result against second-best ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Knockout stage

There will be a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	A1
	B1
	B2
	A3
	A2
	B3
									Third place
	B1
	A4

Notes

1. United States have won in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2025.
2. Canada have won in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

References

1. "IIHF moves the women's world hockey championship to November in 2026". sportsnet.ca. 3 October 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
2. https://www.tsn.ca/pwhl/iihf-pwhl-not-aligned-over-scheduling-of-2026-women-s-world-hockey-championship-1.2315806?fbclid=IwY2xjawKrNKBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFMaEkyRzhOdDhCS2h6djU2AR4pDLLFKEVE3ZMDHxwLBwnoCiJScrzOy01qCkKokbG5kdWG33B81FIKeXNA3A_aem_32Q14dT6PkSMJNfxtGp4Kg
3. https://ishockey.dk/danmark-bliver-vaert-for-kvindernes-vm-i-ishockey-i-2026/
4. https://www.herning.dk/nyheder/2025/nyt-vm-i-ishockey-paa-vej-til-herning
5. https://web.archive.org/web/20251004152526/https://www.iihf.com/en/static/68779/iihf_world_rankings_women
6. "New Format for Women's World Championship Beginning in 2026". thehockeynews.com. 28 September 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2024.