2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships

2026 IIHF World Junior Championship

Tournament details
Host country	United States
City	Minneapolis Saint Paul
Venue(s)	Grand Casino Arena 3M Arena at Mariucci
Dates	December 26, 2025 – January 5, 2026
Teams	10
Tournament statistics
Games played	14
Goals scored	101 (7.21 per game)
Attendance	85,524 (6,109 per game)
Scoring leader	Gavin McKenna (7 points)
Official website
www.iihf.com
←  2025 2027  →

The 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (2026 WJC) are the 50th Ice Hockey World Junior Championships organized by the IIHF. There are seven tournament tiers. The top division began on December 26, 2025, and will end with the gold medal game on January 5, 2026. ^[1]

Top Division

Background

The tournament returns to Minneapolis–Saint Paul after being previously co-hosted there in 1982. This is the seventh time that the United States hosted the WJC and first time since 2018. ^{[2] [3]}

Venues

The tournament games are played at two arenas: ^{[4] [5] [6]}

• Grand Casino Arena in Saint Paul, (home of the Minnesota Wild and the Minnesota Frost), and
• 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, (home of Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey).

Saint Paul	Minneapolis–Saint Paul		Minneapolis
Grand Casino Arena Capacity: 17,954			3M Arena at Mariucci Capacity: 10,257

Qualified teams

Ten teams are taking part in the competition. Denmark returned for the first time since 2019, replacing Kazakhstan who were relegated back to Division I A after finishing last in 2025.

Team	Qualification method	Appearance(s) [a]				Previous best performance [b]
		Total	First	Last	Streak
United States	First in 2025	50th	1977	2025	50	Champions (2004, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2021, 2024, 2025)
Finland	Second in 2025				50	Champions (1987, 1998, 2014, 2016, 2019)
Czechia	Third in 2025				50	Champions (2000, 2001)
Sweden	Fourth in 2025				50	Champions (1981, 2012)
Canada	Fifth in 2025				50	Champions (Twenty times) [c]
Slovakia	Sixth in 2025	31st	1996		31	Third place (1999, 2015)
Latvia	Seventh in 2025	10th	2006		5	Seventh place (2022, 2025)
Switzerland	Eighth in 2025	39th	1978		17	Third place (1998)
Germany	Ninth in 2025	32nd	1977		7	Fifth place ( 1981 )
Denmark	Champions of Division I A	8th	2008	2019	1	Fifth place (2017)

1. In top division. Results in tiers below are excluded.
2. Bold text indicates they hosted that edition.
3. Canada have won in 1982 , 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991 , 1993, 1994, 1995 , 1996, 1997, 2005, 2006 , 2007, 2008, 2009 , 2015 , 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023 .

Match officials

The following officials were assigned by the IIHF to officiate the 2026 World Junior Championships. ^{[7] [8]}

Referees

• Cedric Borga
• Andreas Huber
• Martin Jobbágy
• John Lindner
• Richard Magnusson
• Tomáš Mejzlík
• Troy Murray
• Alexander Österberg
• Rocco Stachowiak
• Adam Tobias
• Hayden Verbeek
• Janne Wuorenheimo

Linesmen

• Nicholas Albinati
• Scott Allan
• Albert Ankerstjerne
• Bryan Gorcoff
• Matthew Heinen
• Anthony LaPointe
• Luka Mäkinen
• Joni Pekkala
• Luke Pye
• Michael Stalder
• Rasmus Strömberg
• David Thuma

Rosters

Main article: 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships rosters

Preliminary round

Seeding

Group A (Grand Casino Arena)   United States (1)   Sweden (4)   Slovakia (6) [a]    Switzerland (8)   Germany (9)

Group B (3M Arena at Mariucci)   Finland (2)   Czechia (3)   Canada (5) [a]   Latvia (7)   Denmark (11-Promoted)

1. The organizer swapped Slovakia and Canada in the group alignments. ^[9]

Tie-breaking criteria [10] [11]
The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined as follows: points; head-to-head points; head-to-head goal difference; head-to-head number of goals scored; result against closest best-ranked team outside tied teams; result against next best-ranked team outside tied teams; seeding before tournament.

All times are local, CST (UTC−6).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden (A)	3	3	0	0	0	15	5	+10	9	Quarterfinals
2	United States (H, A)	3	3	0	0	0	14	9	+5	9
3	Slovakia	3	1	0	0	2	11	10	+1	3
4	Switzerland	2	0	0	0	2	3	6	−3	0
5	Germany	3	0	0	0	3	5	18	−13	0	Relegation round

Updated to match(es) played on December 29, 2025. Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(A) Advances to a further round; (H) Host

December 26, 2025 12:00pm

Sweden

3–2 0–0, 2–1, 1–1

Slovakia

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 5,125

Game reference
	Love Härenstam	Goalies	Alan Lendák	Referees: John Lindner Janne Wuorenheimo Linesmen: Nicholas Albinati David Thuma
	Frondell (Freij, Stenberg) (PP) – 29:05 1–0 Eklund (Frondell, Berglund) (PP) – 33:16 2–0 2–1 39:56 – Pobežal (Mišiak) (PP2) 2–2 50:55 – Tomík (Pitka) Stenberg (Genborg) – 56:03 3–2
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	32	Shots	25

December 26, 2025 5:00pm

Germany

3–6 (1–3, 2–3, 0–0)

United States

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 14,276

Game reference
	Lennart Neisse	Goalies	Caleb Heil	Referees: Cedric Borga Richard Magnusson Linesmen: Anthony LaPointe Joni Pekkala
	0–1 05:34 – Plante (Stiga, Kleber) 0–2 10:53 – Reid (Zellers, McMorrow) 0–3 15:55 – Horcoff (Ziemer, Hagens) Kose (Händel, Schwarz) – 17:39 1–3 Seidl (Willhoft) – 25:46 2–3 2–4 30:31 – Zellers (Hutson, Spellacy) Boos (Willhoft, Kretzschmar) – 31:27 3–4 3–5 34:58 – Zellers (Spellacy) 3–6 38:07 – Eiserman (Hutson)
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	21	Shots	47

---

December 27, 2025 1:00pm

Slovakia

4–1 (2–0, 1–0, 1–1)

Germany

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 3,702

Game reference
	Michal Prádel	Goalies	Linus Veillard	Referees: Andreas Huber Hayden Verbeek Linesmen: Luke Pye Michael Stalder
	Chrenko (Nemec) – 05:34 1–0 Chrenko (Nemec, Straka) (PP) – 19:12 2–0 Chrenko (Svrček, Radivojevič) (PP) – 33:23 3–0 3–1 51:09 – Willhoft (Lewandowski) Beluško (SH, ENG) – 59:07 4–1
	4 min	Penalties	14 min
	38	Shots	35

December 27, 2025 5:00pm

United States

2–1 (0–0, 2–1, 0–0)

Switzerland

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 13,984

Game reference
	Nicholas Kempf	Goalies	Christian Kirsch	Referees: Tomáš Mejzlík Troy Murray Linesmen: Nicholas Albinati Luka Mäkinen
	Ziemer (Hagens, Horcoff) – 21:12 1–0 1–1 32:34 – Sansonnens (Grossniklaus, Steiner) Zellers (McKinney) – 34:40 2–1
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	20	Shots	17

---

December 28, 2025 1:00pm

Sweden

4–2 (1–1, 0–1, 3–0)

Switzerland

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 4,825

Game reference
	Love Härenstam	Goalies	Elijah Neuenschwander	Referees: Tomáš Mejzlík Janne Wuorenheimo Linesmen: Scott Allan Anthony LaPointe
	Nilson (Sahlin Wallenius) – 00:53 1–0 1–1 14:27 – Waidacher (Muggli, Ustinkov) 1–2 38:22 – Steiner (Ustinkov, Muggli) V. Björck (Freij, Frondell) – 40:57 2–2 Pettersson (Danielsson, Nilson) – 46:28 3–2 Pettersson (Stenberg) (ENG) – 59:13 4–2
	6 min	Penalties	10 min
	30	Shots	30

---

December 29, 2025 12:00pm

Germany

1–8 (1–1, 0–4, 0–3)

Sweden

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 4,122

Game reference
	Linus Veillard Lukas Stuhrmann	Goalies	Herman Liv	Referees: Rocco Stachowiak Adam Tobias Linesmen: Bryan Gorcoff Matthew Heinen
	0–1 01:45 – Frondell (Freij, Eklund) (PP) Pul (Schafer) – 07:04 1–1 1–2 21:03 – V. Björck (Boumedienne, Ohrqvist) 1–3 28:11 – Berglund (Sahlin Wallenius, Carell) 1–4 35:26 – V. Björck (Sahlin Wallenius, Danielsson) (PP) 1–5 39:29 – Boumedienne (Ohrqvist) 1–6 45:34 – Frondell (Freij) (PP) 1–7 57:25 – Danielsson (Petterson, Genborg) (PP) 1–8 59:59 – Petterson (Berglund, Genborg)
	12 min	Penalties	6 min
	17	Shots	44

December 29, 2025 5:00pm

Slovakia

5–6 (2–0, 2–4, 1–2)

United States

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul Attendance: 13,052

Game reference
	Michal Prádel	Goalies	Caleb Heil	Referees: Cedric Borgia Andreas Huber Linesmen: Nicholas Albinati Luka Mäkinen
	Pitka (Tomík, Fabus) – 08:53 1–0 Chrenko (Radivojevič) (PP) – 11:15 2–0 2–1 21:50 – Spellacy (McMorrow) (SH) Beluško (Straka) (SH) – 26:46 3–1 3–2 28:33 – McMorrow (Bednarik, Spellacy) 3–3 31:00 – Lee (Mooney, Zellers) (PP) Svrček (Straka) (PP) – 34:44 4–3 4–4 39:15 – Hagens (Stiga, Reid) 4–5 40:18 – Hagens (Reid, Ziemer) 4–6 44:34 – Zellers (Ziemer, Mooney) (PP) Chrenko (Radivojevič, Nemec) (EA) – 58:06 5–6
	10 min	Penalties	8 min
	31	Shots	41

---

December 30, 2025 1:00pm

Switzerland

v

Germany

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

---

December 31, 2025 12:00pm

Switzerland

v

Slovakia

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

December 31, 2025 5:00pm

United States

v

Sweden

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada (A)	3	2	1	0	0	18	7	+11	8	Quarterfinals
2	Finland (A)	3	2	0	1	0	15	4	+11	7
3	Czechia (A)	3	1	1	0	1	14	10	+4	5
4	Latvia	2	0	0	1	1	1	10	−9	1
5	Denmark	3	0	0	0	3	5	22	−17	0	Relegation round

Updated to match(es) played on December 29, 2025. Source: IIHF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(A) Advances to a further round

December 26, 2025 2:30pm

Denmark

2–6 1–3, 0–3, 1–0

Finland

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 2,935

Game reference
	Anton Wilde	Goalies	Petteri Rimpinen	Referees: Andreas Huber Troy Murray Linesmen: Matthew Heinen Michael Stalder
	0–1 01:49 – Vesterinen (Kuhta, Tuuva) 0–2 02:19 – Kalto (Westergård, Kiviharju) Bundegaard (Amondsen, E. Jakobsen) – 06:08 1–2 1–3 10:07 – Suvanto (Kuhta, Boelius) (PP) 1–4 24:45 – Koivu (Kiviharju, Ruohonen) 1–5 26:19 – Saarelainen (Boelius, Vanhanen) (PP) 1–6 31:21 – Vesterinen (Kuhta, Tuuva) Linde (M. Jakobsen, Larsen) (PP) – 42:22 2–6
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	10	Shots	43

December 26, 2025 7:30pm

Czechia

5–7 1–1, 2–2, 2–4

Canada

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 5,502

Game reference
	Michal Orsulák	Goalies	Carter George	Referees: Alexander Österberg Adam Tobias Linesmen: Scott Allan Luka Mäkinen
	0–1 13:53 – Martin (McKenna, Hage) Poletín (Benák, Pšenička) – 17:01 1–1 1–2 17:38 – Hage (Martin, Danford) Čihař (Benák, Man) (EA) – 24:02 2–2 Sikora (Čihař, Nestrašil) – 32:13 3–2 3–3 37:02 – Parekh (Reid, Desnoyers) 3–4 43:09 – Parekh (McKenna, Reschny) (PP) Poletín (Sikora, Galvas) – 45:21 4–4 4–5 46:32 – Iginla (Misa, MacKenzie) 4–6 49:12 – MacKenzie (Hage) Galvas (Nestrašil, Čihař) – 55:26 5–6 5–7 59:00 – Martone (Beaudoin, MacKenzie) (ENG)
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	33	Shots	27

---

December 27, 2025 3:30pm

Latvia

1–2 OT (0–0, 0–1, 1–0) (OT: 0–1)

Canada

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 4,146

Game reference
	Nils Mauriņš	Goalies	Jack Ivankovic	Referees: Martin Jobbágy Richard Magnusson Linesmen: Albert Ankerst Jerne Rasmus Strömberg
	0–1 22:22 – Reschny (McKenna, Brunicke) (PP) Bērzkalns (Sārts, Diļevka) – 58:02 1–1 1–2 60:44 – Hage (McKenna, Parekh) (PP)
	29 min	Penalties	6 min
	27	Shots	38

December 27, 2025 7:30pm

Denmark

2–7 (1–2, 1–3, 0–2)

Czechia

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 3,067

Game reference
	Anton Wilde	Goalies	Matyas Marik	Referees: Cedric Borga Rocco Stachowiak Linesmen: Bryan Gorcoff Matthew Heinen
	0–1 02:56 – Čihař (Galvas, Nestrašil) Petersen (E. Jakobsen, Olesen) – 05:53 1–1 1–2 11:57 – Kubiesa (Sikora, Galvas) (PP) 1–3 21:45 – Nestrašil (Jiříček, Benák) (PP) Larsen (Baerentsen) – 24:39 2–3 2–4 31:20 – Jiříček (Novotný) 2–5 35:01 – Hoch (Klíma) 2–6 45:41 – Galvas (Sikora, Novotný) (PP) 2–7 46:39 – Žemlička
	35 min	Penalties	6 min
	22	Shots	53

---

December 28, 2025 3:30pm

Finland

8–0 (3–0, 2–0, 3–0)

Latvia

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 3,152

Game reference
	Petteri Rimpinen	Goalies	Mikus Vecvanags	Referees: Alexander Österberg Adam Tobias Linesmen: Bryan Gorcoff David Thuma
	Hemming (Vanhanen) – 04:11 1–0 Kuhta (Westergård) – 14:19 2–0 Westergard (Nykyri, Miettinen) – 19:16 3–0 Hemming (Vanhanen, Kiviharju) (PP2) – 21:37 4–0 Saarelainen (Ruohonen, Boelius) – 34:06 5–0 Vesterinen (Nykyri, Kuhta) – 42:51 6–0 Ruohonen (Koivu, Piiparinen) – 45:35 7–0 Boelius (Ruohonen, Saarelainen) – 50:31 8–0
	4 min	Penalties	6 min
	41	Shots	7

---

December 29, 2025 2:30pm

Finland

1–2 OT (0–1, 0–0, 1–0) (OT: 0–1)

Czechia

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 3,235

Game reference
	Petteri Rimpinen	Goalies	Michal Orsulák	Referees: Troy Murray Hayden Verbeek Linesmen: Albert Ankerst Jerne Luke Pye
	0–1 01:52 – Kubiesa (Galvas, Čihař) (PP) Hemming (Tuuva, Ruohonen) (EA) – 59:40 1–1 1–2 63:39 – Jiříček (Sikora, Čihař)
	31 min	Penalties	10 min
	24	Shots	26

December 29, 2025 7:30pm

Canada

9–1 (3–0, 2–1, 4–0)

Denmark

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Attendance: 4,401

Game reference
	Carter George	Goalies	Patrick Tiedjen	Referees: Martin Jobbágy Janne Wuorenheimo Linesmen: Joni Pekkala Rasmus Strömberg
	McKenna (Hage, Martin) (PP) – 03:17 1–0 Cootes (Iginla, Verhoeff) – 08:36 2–0 Parekh (Desnoyers, Beaudoin) – 10:03 3–0 3–1 20:28 – Klyvo Martone (Parekh, Misa) (PP) – 26:11 4–1 McKenna (Martin, MacKenzie) – 35:03 5–1 Misa (Martone, Aitcheson) – 44:41 6–1 McKenna (Hage, Martin) – 45:44 7–1 Aitcheson (Desnoyers, O'Reilly) – 54:16 8–1 Martone (Misa, Iginla) – 54:40 9–1
	2 min	Penalties	6 min
	49	Shots	13

---

December 30, 2025 3:30pm

Latvia

v

Denmark

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

---

December 31, 2025 2:30pm

Czechia

v

Latvia

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

December 31, 2025 7:30pm

Canada

v

Finland

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

Relegation round

January 2, 2026 11:30am

A5

v

B5

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

Playoff round

Quarterfinal winners will be reseeded for the semifinals in accordance with the following ranking:

1. Placement in group
2. Points in preliminary round
3. Goal differential in preliminary round
4. Number of goals scored in preliminary round
5. Seeding coming into the tournament

Rank	Team	Group	Pos	Pts	GD	GF	Seed
1			1
2			1
3			2
4			2
5			3
6			3
7			4
8			4

Bracket

	Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Final
	January 2
	1A
					January 4 – Grand Casino Arena
	4B
	January 2
	2B
									January 5 – Grand Casino Arena
	3A
	January 2
	1B
					January 4 – Grand Casino Arena
	4A
	January 2
									Third place
	2A
									January 5 – Grand Casino Arena
	3B

Quarterfinals

January 2, 2026 1:00pm

Sweden

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

January 2, 2026 3:30pm

v

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

January 2, 2026 5:00pm

United States

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

January 2, 2026 7:30pm

Canada

v

3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis

Semifinals

January 4, 2026 3:30pm

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

January 4, 2026 7:30pm

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

Bronze medal game

January 5, 2026 3:30pm

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

Gold medal game

January 5, 2026 7:30pm

v

Grand Casino Arena, Saint Paul

Statistics

Scoring leaders

Pos	Player	Country	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
1	Tomáš Galvas	Czechia	2	2	3	5	+1	0
2	Jasper Kuhta	Finland	2	1	4	5	+4	0
3	Will Zellers	United States	2	3	1	4	+4	0
4	Vojtěch Čihař	Czechia	2	2	2	4	+4	0
4	Michael Hage	Canada	2	2	2	4	+2	0
6	Lasse Boelius	Finland	2	1	3	4	+1	0
6	Václav Nestrašil	Czechia	2	1	3	4	+3	2
6	Heikki Ruohonen	Finland	2	1	3	4	+4	0
6	Petr Sikora	Czechia	2	1	3	4	+2	0
10	Gavin McKenna	Canada	2	0	4	4	+2	0

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus–minus; PIM = Penalties In Minutes
Source: IIHF.com

Goaltending leaders

(minimum 40% team's total ice time)

Pos	Player	Country	TOI	GA	GAA	SA	Sv%	SO
1	Michal Prádel	Slovakia	60:00	1	1.00	35	97.14	0
2	Jack Ivankovic	Canada	60:44	1	0.99	27	96.30	0
3	Nils Mauriņš	Latvia	60:44	2	1.98	38	94.74	0
4	Nicholas Kempf	United States	60:00	1	1.00	17	94.12	0
5	Love Härenstam	Sweden	120:00	4	2.00	54	92.59	0

TOI = Time on ice (minutes:seconds); GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; SA = Shots against; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts
Source: IIHF.com

Division I

Main article: 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division I

Group A

The Division I, Group A tournament was played in Bled, Slovenia between December 7–13, 2025.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Norway	5	4	1	0	0	37	11	+26	14	Promotion to the 2027 Top Division
2	Kazakhstan	5	2	1	1	1	27	26	+1	9 [a]
3	Austria	5	3	0	0	2	25	18	+7	9 [a]
4	Slovenia (H)	5	1	1	1	2	17	26	−9	6 [b]
5	Ukraine	5	1	1	1	2	12	19	−7	6 [b]
6	France	5	0	0	1	4	16	34	−18	1	Relegation to the 2027 Division I B

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 next best-ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament. ^{[12] [13]}
(H) Host
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Kazakhstan 3, Austria 0
2. Head-to-head points: Slovenia 3, Ukraine 0

Group B

The Division I, Group B tournament was played in Milan, Italy between December 8–14, 2025.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Hungary	5	3	1	0	1	18	9	+9	11	Promotion to the 2027 Division I A
2	Estonia	5	2	1	1	1	18	14	+4	9 [a]
3	Lithuania	5	3	0	0	2	10	11	−1	9 [a]
4	Poland	5	2	0	2	1	13	13	0	8
5	Japan	5	1	1	0	3	12	16	−4	5
6	Italy (H)	5	1	0	0	4	11	19	−8	3	Relegation to the 2027 Division II A

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 next best-ranked team outside tied teams; 7) seeding before tournament. ^{[12] [13]}
(H) Host
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Estonia 3, Lithuania 0

Division II

Main article: 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division II

Group A

The Division II, Group A tournament will take place in Bucharest, Romania between January 4–10, 2026.

•   China
•   Croatia
•   Great Britain
•   Romania
•   South Korea – relegated from Division I B
•   Spain – promoted from Division II B

Group B

The Division II, Group B tournament will take place in Belgrade, Serbia between January 18–24, 2026.

•   Australia
•   Iceland
•   Israel
•   Netherlands – relegated from Division II A
•   New Zealand – promoted from Division III A
•   Serbia

Division III

Main article: 2026 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships – Division III

Group A

The Division III, Group A tournament will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria between January 19–25, 2026.

•   Belgium – relegated from Division II B
•   Bosnia and Herzegovina
•   Bulgaria
•   Chinese Taipei
•   Thailand – promoted from Division III B
•   Turkey

Group B

The Division III, Group B tournament will take place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan between January 18–24, 2026.

•   Hong Kong – new participants
•   Iran – new participants
•   Kyrgyzstan
•   Luxembourg
•   Mexico – relegated from Division III A
•   South Africa

References

1. "IIHF - Tournaments". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
2. "USA Hockey Selects Twin Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to Host 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship". USA Hockey. January 5, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
3. "IIHF - Host State Information". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
4. "Minneapolis-St. Paul to host 2026 World Junior Hockey Championship". ESPN.com. January 5, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
5. "IIHF - Grand Casino Arena". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
6. "IIHF - 3M Arena at Mariucci". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
7. "Competition Officials" (PDF). IIHF . Retrieved December 24, 2025.
8. "Game Officials Assignments" (PDF). IIHF . Retrieved December 29, 2025.
9. "Groups Set For 2026 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship". usahockey.com. March 7, 2025.
10. "IIHF Divisions World Championships Event Code" (PDF). IIHF. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
11. "IIHF - Tournament Info 2026 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP". IIHF. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
12. "IIHF Divisions World Championships Event Code" (PDF). IIHF. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
13. "IIHF - Tournament Info 2026 IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP". IIHF. Retrieved December 25, 2025.