IIHF U18 Women's World Championship

Last updated

IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship
Most recent season or competition:
2025 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship
IIHF World Women's U18 Championship.png
Sport Ice hockey
Founded2008 (2008)
Founder International Ice Hockey Federation
First season 2008
No. of teams
  • 8 in Top Division
  • 12 in Division I
  • 12 in Division II
  • 4 in Division III
Most recent
champion(s)
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada (8th title)
(2025)
Most titlesFlag of the United States.svg  United States
(9 titles)

The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, officially the IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women's World Championship, is an annual ice hockey tournament for national women's under-18 (U18) ice hockey teams, administered by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is the junior edition of the IIHF Women's World Championship and participation is limited to female ice hockey players under 18 years of age.

Contents

History

A qualification tournament was held in 2007 to finalize divisional placement and the inaugural championship was held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in January 2008. The United States' national team won nine of sixteen championships and never ranked lower than third place. The Canadian national team has won eight gold medals, seven silver medals and one bronze. The third most successful team in championship history is the Swedish national team, the only nation to unseat either of the top North American teams to claim silver (2018, 2023) and winners of five bronze medals. The other national teams to have won bronze are the Czech Republic (2), Finland (2), and Russia (3).

Thirty-two countries participated in the most recent championship (2023) across three divisions: Top Division, Division I, and Division II. As with other IIHF tournaments, there is an active system of promotion and relegation between the groups and divisions, the winner of each group gains promotion to the group or division directly above for the following tournament and the lowest ranking team in relegated to the group or division below. Through this system, no two consecutive championships feature the same teams in each group or division and it is possible for a team to rise from Division IIB to the Top Division or fall from the Top Division to Division IIB in the span of five tournaments – though no team has ever accomplished such a meteoric rise or fall. The Top Division is the only division to confer the title of World Champion and comprises the teams ranked first through eighth in the world. Division I comprises twelve teams organized into two groups of six teams each, classified as Group IA and IB. Division II comprises eight teams organized into two groups of four teams each, classified as Groups IIA and IIB. Winning a gold medal in a divisional tournament below the Top Division corresponds with the numeric placement from first, i.e. the Division IA gold medal team ranks 9th in the world, the Division IB gold medal team ranks 15th in the world, and so on.

The tournament can be interpreted as the women's counterpart of both the IIHF World Junior Championship and the IIHF World U18 Championship, though it is afforded significantly less in terms of resources or promotion than either of the junior men's tournaments. [1] Media coverage of the women's tournament is similarly lacking in comparison. [2] [3]


List of championships

YearGoldSilverBronze4th placeHost city
2008 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Calgary, Canada
2009 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Germany.svg Füssen, Germany
2010 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Flag of the United States.svg Chicago, United States
2011 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Sweden.svg Stockholm, Sweden
2012 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Zlín and Přerov, Czech Republic
2013 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Finland.svg Heinola and Vierumäki, Finland
2014 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Hungary.svg Budapest, Hungary
2015 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Flag of the United States.svg Buffalo, United States
2016 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg St. Catharines, Canada
2017 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Zlín and Přerov, Czech Republic
2018 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Russia.svg Dmitrov, Russia
2019 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Japan.svg Obihiro, Japan
2020 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Russia.svg  Russia Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Slovakia.svg Bratislava, Slovakia
2021 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [4]
2022 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of the United States.svg Dane County, Wisconsin, United States
2023 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund, Sweden
2024 Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechia Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Zug, Switzerland
2025 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Flag of the United States.svg  United States Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechia Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Flag of Finland.svg Vantaa, Finland
2026 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Nova Scotia, Canada [5]
2027
2028 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg [5]
2029
2030 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg [5]

Participation and medals

NationYearsFirstLastGoldSilverBronzeTotalBest finish (first/last)
Flag of the United States.svg  United States 17 2008 2025 971171st (2008/2024)
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 17 2008 2025 872171st (2010/2025)
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 17 2008 2025 02572nd (2018/2023)
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechia 17 2008 2025 01342nd (2024)
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 17 2008 2025 00333rd (2011/2022)
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 12 2008 2020 00333rd (2015/2020)
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 9 2008 2024 00004th (2010/2012)
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland 14 2008 2025 00005th (2025)
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan 8 2010 2025 00006th (2010)
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia 5 2020 2025 00006th (2022/2024)
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 2 2013 2014 00006th (2013)
Flag of France.svg  France 1 2016 2016 00008th (2016)

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1Flag of the United States.svg  United States 97117
2Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 87217
3Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden 0257
4Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic 0134
5Flag of Finland.svg  Finland 0033
Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 0033
Totals (6 entries)17171751

References

  1. Jay, Michelle (17 September 2020). "The IIHF's U18 World decisions show a lack of care about the women's game". The Ice Garden. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  2. Szto, Courtney (1 January 2020). "If the "future of hockey lives on TSN" then where does the future of women's hockey live?". Hockey in Society. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  3. "Where Was The Women's U18 Canada Versus USA Gold Medal Game On TV? Hidden Behind The Boys Game". Chatham-Kent Sports Network. 2 January 2020. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  4. "IIHF Season 2021 – Calendar of Events" (PDF). stats.iihf.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. 18 November 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Potts, Andy. "reRecap: 2023 IIHF – Semi-Annual Congress". IIHF. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.