2026 IIHF World U18 Championship Division III

2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III

Tournament details
Host countries	Hong Kong   Bosnia and Herzegovina
Venues	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	2–8 March 2026 (A) 13–19 February 2026 (B)
Teams	12
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See also: 2026 IIHF World U18 Championships

The 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III consists of two international under-18 ice hockey tournaments organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Divisions III A and III B represent the sixth and the seventh tier of the IIHF World U18 Championship.

Division III A

2025 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III A

Tournament details
Host country	Hong Kong
City	Hong Kong
Venue	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	2–8 March 2026
Teams	6
Official website
www.iihf.com

The Division III Group A tournament will be played in Hong Kong, China, from 2 to 8 March 2026. ^{[1] [2]}

Participating teams

Team	Qualification
Bulgaria	Placed 6th in Division II B last year and were relegated
Turkey	Placed 2nd in Division III A last year
Israel	Placed 3rd in Division III A last year
Hong Kong	Hosts; placed 4th in Division III A last year
New Zealand	Placed 5th in Division III A last year
Uzbekistan	Placed 1st in Division III B last year and were promoted

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Bulgaria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Promotion to the 2027 Division II B
2	Turkey	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Israel	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Hong Kong (H)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	New Zealand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Uzbekistan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to the 2027 Division III B

First match(es) will be played: 2 March 2026. Source: IIHF
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

Match results

All times are local (Hong Kong Time; UTC+8).

2 March 2026 13:00

Israel

v

Bulgaria

DB Ice Rink

2 March 2026 16:30

Turkey

v

New Zealand

DB Ice Rink

2 March 2026 20:30

Uzbekistan

v

Hong Kong

DB Ice Rink

---

3 March 2026 13:00

Turkey

v

Israel

DB Ice Rink

3 March 2026 16:30

New Zealand

v

Uzbekistan

DB Ice Rink

3 March 2026 20:30

Bulgaria

v

Hong Kong

DB Ice Rink

---

5 March 2026 13:00

Bulgaria

v

New Zealand

DB Ice Rink

5 March 2026 16:30

Turkey

v

Uzbekistan

DB Ice Rink

5 March 2026 20:30

Israel

v

Hong Kong

DB Ice Rink

---

6 March 2026 13:00

Uzbekistan

v

Bulgaria

DB Ice Rink

6 March 2026 16:30

New Zealand

v

Israel

DB Ice Rink

6 March 2026 20:30

Hong Kong

v

Turkey

DB Ice Rink

---

8 March 2026 13:00

Israel

v

Uzbekistan

DB Ice Rink

8 March 2026 16:30

Bulgaria

v

Turkey

DB Ice Rink

8 March 2026 20:30

Hong Kong

v

New Zealand

DB Ice Rink

Source: Match schedule

Division III B

2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III B

Tournament details
Host country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
City	Sarajevo
Venue	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	13–19 February 2026
Teams	6
Tournament statistics
Games played	15
Goals scored	135 (9 per game)
Attendance	1,570 (105 per game)
Scoring leader	Theetachthan Luang-On (16 points)
Official website
www.iihf.com

The Division III Group B tournament was played in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 13 to 19 February 2026. ^{[3] [4]}

This tournament was played under a new format. The teams were divided into two groups of three using the serpentine system. In the group stage, each team from Group A faced all three opponents from Group B, and vice versa. The top two teams from each group advanced to the semifinals, which were played as A1 vs. A2, and B1 vs. B2. ^[5]

Participating teams

Team	Qualification
Iceland	Placed 6th in Division III A last year and were relegated
Thailand	Placed 2nd in Division III B last year
Turkmenistan	Placed 3rd in Division III B last year
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Hosts; placed 4th in Division III B last year
South Africa	Placed 5th in Division III B last year
Luxembourg	placed 6th in Division III B last year

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iceland	3	2	0	0	1	19	6	+13	6	Semifinals
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina (H)	3	1	1	0	1	13	18	−5	5
3	South Africa	3	1	0	0	2	12	11	+1	3	Relegation round

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) total goals; 4) seeding before tournament.
(H) Host

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Thailand	3	3	0	0	0	20	7	+13	9	Semifinals
2	Turkmenistan	3	1	0	0	2	5	11	−6	3
3	Luxembourg	3	0	0	1	2	10	26	−16	1	Relegation round

Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) total goals; 4) seeding before tournament.

Match results

All times are local (Central European Time; UTC+1).

13 February 2026 12:30

South Africa

3–4 (1–1, 1–2, 1–1)

Turkmenistan

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 50

Game reference
	72 min	Penalties	8 min
	33	Shots	32

13 February 2026 16:00

Luxembourg

1–12 (0–2, 0–4, 1–6)

Iceland

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 50

Game reference
	33 min	Penalties	30 min
	8	Shots	61

13 February 2026 19:30

Bosnia and Herzegovina

3–12 (0–4, 2–2, 1–6)

Thailand

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 250

Game reference
	16 min	Penalties	18 min
	25	Shots	36

---

14 February 2026 12:30

Iceland

5–1 (3–0, 2–1, 0–0)

Turkmenistan

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 50

Game reference
	12 min	Penalties	18 min
	55	Shots	21

14 February 2026 16:00

Thailand

4–2 (2–0, 1–1, 1–1)

South Africa

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 50

Game reference
	4 min	Penalties	14 min
	43	Shots	19

14 February 2026 19:30

Bosnia and Herzegovina

7–6 OT (5–0, 0–3, 1–3) (OT: 1–0)

Luxembourg

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 300

Game reference
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	33	Shots	33

---

16 February 2026 12:30

South Africa

7–3 (1–2, 2–0, 4–1)

Luxembourg

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 30

Game reference
	12 min	Penalties	14 min
	39	Shots	19

16 February 2026 16:00

Iceland

2–4 (1–1, 0–1, 1–2)

Thailand

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 30

Game reference
	37 min	Penalties	10 min
	32	Shots	25

16 February 2026 19:30

Turkmenistan

0–3 (0–0, 0–1, 0–2)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Skenderija Sports Arena

Game reference
	8 min	Penalties	6 min
	21	Shots	49

Playoffs

Brackets

	Semifinals					Final
	B1	Thailand	14
	B2	Turkmenistan	0
						Thailand (OT)		4
						Iceland		3
	A1	Iceland	8
	A2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2			Bronze medal game
						Bosnia and Herzegovina		4
						Turkmenistan		1

	Relegation round
	A3	South Africa	2	9	1
	B3	Luxembourg	6	2	0

Relegation round

18 February 2026 12:30

South Africa

2–6 (1–2, 0–3, 1–1)

Luxembourg

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 30

Game reference
	12 min	Penalties	14 min
	33	Shots	34

19 February 2026 12:30

Luxembourg

2–9 (0–4, 1–1, 1–4)

South Africa

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 30

Game reference
	4 min	Penalties	14 min
	31	Shots	41

An extra overtime period was played following the conclusion of the game since both teams had won one game each. Latita Ngqola scored at 4:59 to win the relegation round for South Africa.

Semifinals

18 February 2026 16:00

Thailand

14–0 (5–0, 5–0, 4–0)

Turkmenistan

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 30

Game reference
	6 min	Penalties	16 min
	58	Shots	12

18 February 2026 19:30

Iceland

8–2 (3–2, 3–0, 2–0)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 200

Game reference
	20 min	Penalties	10 min
	45	Shots	23

Bronze medal game

19 February 2026 16:00

Bosnia and Herzegovina

4–1 (1–0, 3–0, 0–1)

Turkmenistan

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 100

Game reference
	10 min	Penalties	20 min
	28	Shots	25

Final

19 February 2026 19:30

Thailand

4–3 OT (1–1, 0–1, 2–1) (OT: 1–0)

Iceland

Skenderija Sports Arena Attendance: 70

Game reference
	6 min	Penalties	10 min
	27	Shots	36

Source: Match schedule

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Thailand	5	4	1	0	0	38	10	+28	14	Champions / Promoted to the 2027 Division III A
2	Iceland	5	3	0	1	1	30	12	+18	10	Runners-up
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	5	2	1	0	2	19	27	−8	8	Third place
4	Turkmenistan	5	1	0	0	4	6	29	−23	3	Fourth place
5	South Africa	5	2	0	0	3	24	19	+5	6	Fifth place
6	Luxembourg	5	1	0	1	3	18	38	−20	4	Sixth place, possible relegation

Source: IIHF

References

1. 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III A official website, www.iihf.com
2. 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III A statistics, stats.iihf.com
3. 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III B official website, www.iihf.com
4. 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship Division III B statistics, stats.iihf.com
5. "IIHF to trial new format for lower division tournaments". www.iihf.com.