Ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics

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Ice hockey
at the XXV Olympic Winter Games
Venues PalaItalia
Fiera Milano
Dates5–22 February
No. of events2 (1 men and 1 women)
Competitors530 from 13 nations
←  2022
2030  →

The ice hockey competitions of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be played at two venues located in the Milan cluster: the PalaItalia and one of the Fiera Milano pavilions.

The men's tournament will have 12 teams competing, and the women's tournament 10. [1] Russia and Belarus are currently banned from competing in international championships through the IIHF's 2026 program due to their military aggression in Ukraine. [2] [3]

Venues

PalaItalia Santa Giulia Fiera Milano
PalaItalia Portello Fieramilanocity Timpano.jpg
MilanMilan

Competition schedule

Ice hockey competitions are scheduled to start one day before the Opening Ceremony with the following schedule: [4]

PRPreliminary roundPOPlayoffsQFQuarter-finalsSFSemi-finalsBBronze-medal matchGGold-medal match
Date
Event
Wed 4Thu 5Fri 6Sat 7Sun 8Mon 9Tue 10Wed 11Thu 12Fri 13Sat 14Sun 15Mon 16Tue 17Wed 18Thu 19Fri 20Sat 21Sun 22
Men's tournament PRPRPRPRPRPOQFSFBG
Women's tournament PRPRPRPRPRPRQFQFSFBG

Men's tournament

The tournament will feature twelve countries, eight qualifying through the IIHF World Ranking, the host Italy, and three through qualifying tournaments. The format remains the same as the previous three Olympics; three groups of four compete in three games to determine seeding, each play every other team in their group, followed by four rounds of elimination games. Each group winner receives a bye into the second round, along with the highest ranked of the remaining teams. The remaining eight teams play an eliminating qualification game to advance to the quarter-final round. Each quarter-final winner advances to the semi-finals with the winners playing for the gold medal and the losers playing for the bronze.

On 2 February 2024, the IIHF announced that an agreement had been reached with the National Hockey League (NHL) for a break in its regular season to allow the league's players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The NHL was originally scheduled to compete in 2022 as well but opted out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5]

Qualification

Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. The top eight will be joined the hosts and three qualifiers. [1]

Participating nations

The groups were established following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. [6] Qualifiers one, two and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by their qualification seeding.

Group AGroup BGroup C

Women's tournament

Ten countries will again compete in the women's tournament, six qualifying through the IIHF World Ranking, the host Italy, and three through qualifying tournaments.

Qualification

Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. [1]

Participating nations

The groups were established following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. Qualifiers one, two, and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by their qualification seeding.

Group AGroup B

Qualification summary / Participating NOCs

Nations Men Women Athletes
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark Check-green.svg25
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of France.svg  France [a] Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of Japan.svg  Japan Check-green.svg23
Flag of Latvia (3-2).svg  Latvia Check-green.svg25
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia Check-green.svg25
Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of Switzerland.svg  Switzerland Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Flag of the United States.svg  United States Check-green.svgCheck-green.svg48
Total: 13 NOCs1210530
  1. 1 2 3 The IOC announced that Russia will not be allowed to participate in Milan-Cortina. [3] This means that France replaces them both in the men's and women's tournament, filling the final seed in both.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Qualification System – XXV Olympic Winter Games" (PDF). Olympics.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Russia and Belarus not reincorporated into 2024/2025 IIHF Championship Season". iihf.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  3. 1 2 "IOC says Russian teams remain banned from '26 Winter Olympics". Reuters. ESPN. 27 May 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "Milano Cortina 2026: Complete ice hockey schedule". olympics.com. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  5. ↑ "NHL players to return to Olympics in 2026 and 2030". CNN.com. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  6. ↑ "2026 Men's Olympic Winter Games & Qualification Tournament Program" (PDF). IIHF.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
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