National team appearances in the Ice Hockey World Championships

This article lists the performances of each of the 63 national teams which have made at least one appearance in the Ice Hockey World Championships, an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), including the Olympic ice hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year, and was held before the first Ice Hockey World Championship as an individual event in 1930. With the exception between 1940 and 1946, when no championships were held during World War II, nor were held during the Olympic years 1980, 1984, and 1988. In 2020, the IIHF announced that all World Championship tournaments have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions-related issues. ^{[1] [2]}

Sweden has appeared in 83 out of 88 tournaments to date, with Canada, having participated in 78, and Finland in 71. The United States has appeared in 76 out of 81 top division tournaments. Although the U.S. finished in last place in Group A (now Top Division) at the 1969 World Championship after losing all ten games. This marks the first time in men's worlds history, the United States was relegated to Group B (now Division I) until the 1970 World Championship, the U.S. bounced back and finished in first place in Group B (7th overall) after winning all seven games and was promoted back to Group A.

The United States is the current World Champion, defeating Switzerland in the final at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. Since the IIHF re-introduced a playoff system in 1992, Switzerland has appeared in the World Championship gold medal game four times, but they were defeated in four consecutive games, including losing twice to Sweden. Before reaching the 2025 World Championship final, the U.S. has never reached a World Championship gold medal game, having lost in the semifinals 12 times; including six semifinals appearances in ten tournaments from 2013 through 2023, and three consecutive in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Debut of teams

A total of 63 national teams have participated for at least one IIHF World Championship through the 2025 event. Each successive IIHF World Championships has had at least one team appearing for the first time, in alphabetical order per year. Teams in parentheses are considered successor teams by the IIHF.

Notes:

• Between 1920 and 1968, the Olympic ice hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.
• Each of the national teams have made their debut that participate in the lower division of the World Championship. ^[a]

Key:

•   †   – The Summer Olympic Games Ice Hockey Tournament held that year counted as the World Championship
•   *   – The Winter Olympic Games Ice Hockey Tournament held that year counted as the World Championship

Year	Debutants			Successor teams
	Teams	Number	CT
1920  †	Belgium,   Canada,   Czechoslovakia , [b]   France,   Sweden,    Switzerland,   United States	7	7
1924  *	Great Britain	1	8
1928  *	Austria,   Germany, [c]   Hungary,   Poland	4	12
1930	Italy,   Japan	2	14
1931	Romania	1	15
1932  *	None	0	15
1933	Latvia	1	16
1934	None	0	16
1935	Netherlands	1	17
1936  *	None	0	17
1937	Norway	1	18
1938	Lithuania	1	19
1939	Finland, Yugoslavia [d]	2	21
1940	No tournaments were held during World War II
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947	None	0	21
1948  *
1949	Denmark	1	22
1950	None	0	22
1951				Yugoslavia (Group B) [d]
1952  *
1953				West Germany [c]
1954	Soviet Union [e]	1	23
1955	None	0	23
1956  *	East Germany (Group B) [c]	1	24
1957	None	0	24
1958
1959
1960  *	Australia	1	25
1961	South Africa (Group C)	1	26
1962	None	0	26
1963	Bulgaria (Group C)	1	27
1964  *	None	0	27
1965
1966
1967
1968  *
1969
1970
1971
1972	China (Group C)	1	28
1973	None	0	28
1974	North Korea (Group C)	1	29
1975	None	0	29
1976
1977	Spain (Group C)	1	30
1978	None	0	30
1979	South Korea (Group C)	1	31
1980	No tournaments were held during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games
1981	None	0	31
1982
1983
1984	No tournaments were held during the 1984 Winter Olympic Games
1985	None	0	31
1986
1987	Hong Kong (Group D),   New Zealand (Group D)	2 [f]	33
1988	No tournaments were held during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games
1989	None	0	33
1990
1991				Germany [c]
1992	Greece (Group C2),   Israel (Group C2),   Luxembourg (Group C2),   Turkey (Group C2)	4	37	Russia [e]
1993	Belarus (Group C),   Croatia (Group C),   Estonia (Group C),   Kazakhstan (Group C),   Slovenia (Group C),   Ukraine (Group C)	6	43	Czechia [b]
1994	Slovakia (Group C1)	1	44
1995	None	0	44	FR Yugoslavia (Group C) [d]
1996
1997
1998
1999	Iceland (Group D)	1	45
2000	Mexico (Group D)	1	46
2001	None	0	46
2002
2003				Serbia and Montenegro (Division II A) [d]
2004	Armenia (Division III),   Ireland (Division III)	2	48
2005	None	0	48
2006
2007	Mongolia (Division III)	1	49	Serbia (Division II A) [d]
2008	Bosnia & Herzegovina (Division III Q)	1	50
2009	None	0	50
2010	United Arab Emirates (Division III)	1	51
2011	None	0	51
2012
2013	Georgia (Division III Q)	1	52
2014	None	0	52
2015
2016
2017	Chinese Taipei (Division III) [f]	1	53
2018	Kuwait (Division III Q),   Turkmenistan (Division III Q)	2	55
2019	Kyrgyzstan (Division III Q),   Thailand (Division III Q)	2	57
2020	Tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	All lower division tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022	Iran (Division IV),   Malaysia (Division IV),   Singapore (Division IV)	3	60
2023	Indonesia (Division IV),   Philippines (Division IV)	2	62
2024	None	0	62
2025	Uzbekistan (Division IV)	1	63
2026	TBD	TBD	TBD
2027
2028
2029
2030

With 63 national teams to have participated through the 2025 event, the IIHF World Championships is the third most participated men's world championship, behind the FIFA World Cup (80), and the FIBA Basketball World Cup (65), and ahead of the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship (60), the IHF World Men's Handball Championship (58), the Rugby World Cup (26), the Men's Field Hockey World Cup (25), the World Baseball Classic (23), and the Cricket World Cup (20).

Ranking of teams by number of appearances

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Sweden	83	1920	2025	Champions (11 times)
Canada	78	1920	2025	Champions (28 times)
United States	76 (5 in lower divisions)	1920	2025	Champions (1933, 1960, 2025)
Finland	71	1939	2025	Champions (1995, 2011, 2019, 2022)
Switzerland	57 (25 in lower divisions)	1920	2025	Runners-up (5 times)
Norway	40 (31 in lower divisions)	1937	2025	4th place (1951)
Austria	36 (42 in lower divisions)	1928	2025	3rd place (1931, 1947)
France	36 (34 in lower divisions)	1920	2025	6th place (1920, 1924, 1928, 1930)
Italy	32 (39 in lower divisions)	1930	2025	4th place (1953)
Latvia	33 (4 in lower divisions)	1933	2025	3rd place (2023)
Poland	30 (46 in lower divisions)	1928	2025	4th place (1931, 1932)
Slovakia	29 (2 in lower divisions)	1994	2025	Champions (2002)
Denmark	23 (34 in lower divisions)	1949	2025	4th place (2025)
Belarus	20 (8 in lower divisions)	1993	2021	6th place (2006)
Great Britain	19 (43 in lower divisions)	1924	2025	Champions (1936)
Hungary	14 (54 in lower divisions)	1928	2025	5th place (1937)
Kazakhstan	13 (19 in lower divisions)	1993	2025	10th place (2021)
Belgium	12 (47 in lower divisions)	1920	2025	7th place (1920, 1924, 1950)
Japan	11 (48 in lower divisions)	1930	2025	6th place (1930)
Slovenia	11 (20 in lower divisions)	1993	2025	13th place (2002, 2005)
Ukraine	9 (22 in lower divisions)	1993	2025	9th place (2002)
Romania	8 (58 in lower divisions)	1931	2025	7th place (1947)
Netherlands	4 (58 in lower divisions)	1935	2025	8th place (1950, 1981)
Australia	1 (39* in lower divisions)	1960	2025	9th place (1960)
South Korea	1 (38 in lower divisions)	1979	2025	16th place (2018)
Lithuania	1 (31 in lower divisions)	1938	2025	10th place (1938)
Bulgaria	0 (54 in lower divisions)	1963	2025	14th place (8th in Group B) (1970)
China	0 (46 in lower divisions)	1972	2025	15th place (6th in Group B) (1982)
Spain	0 (41 in lower divisions)	1977	2025	22nd place (5th in Group C) (1977)
Israel	0 (32 in lower divisions)	1992	2025	28th place (6th in Division I A) (2006)
South Africa	0 (32¶ in lower divisions)	1961	2025	19th place (3rd in Group C) (1966)
Croatia	0 (31 in lower divisions)	1993	2025	24th place (4th in Division I A) (2001)
Estonia	0 (31 in lower divisions)	1993	2025	19th place (3rd in Group B) (1998)
New Zealand	0 (29¶ in lower divisions)	1987	2025	27th place (3rd in Group D) (1987)
Turkey	0 (29¶ in lower divisions)	1992	2025	32nd place (6th in Group C2) (1992)
North Korea	0 (29 in lower divisions)	1974	2025	21st place (5th in Group C) (1990)
Iceland	0 (24 in lower divisions)	1999	2025	30th place (2nd in Division II A) (2014)
Luxembourg	0 (24 in lower divisions)	1992	2025	31st place (5th in Group C2) (1992)
Mexico	0 (24 in lower divisions)	2000	2025	35th place (4th in Division II B) (2008)
Greece	0 (12** in lower divisions)	1992	2013	29th place (3rd in Group C2) (1992)
Georgia	0 (11** in lower divisions)	2013	2025	30th place (2nd in Division II A) (2023)
United Arab Emirates	0 (11** in lower divisions)	2010	2025	31st place (3rd in Division II A) (2024, 2025)
Hong Kong	0 (10 in lower divisions)	1987	2025	28th place (4th in Group D) (1987)
Ireland	0 (10 in lower divisions)	2004	2013	40th place (6th in Division II B) (2008)
Bosnia & Herzegovina	0 (9 in lower divisions)	2008	2025	44th place (3rd in Division III B) (2022)
Mongolia	0 (8** in lower divisions)	2007	2025	45th place (5th in Division III) (2007)
Chinese Taipei	0 (7⸿ in lower divisions)	2017	2025	39th place (5th in Division II B) (2024, 2025)
Kuwait	0 (6 in lower divisions)	2018	2025	49th place (5th in Division IV) (2022)
Turkmenistan	0 (6 in lower divisions)	2018	2025	39th place (3rd in Division III A) (2022)
Armenia	0 (6 in lower divisions)	2004	2025	43rd place (3rd in Division III) (2006)
Kyrgyzstan	0 (5 in lower divisions)	2019	2025	41st place (1st in Division III A) (2025)
Thailand	0 (5 in lower divisions)	2019	2025	40th place (6th in Division II B) (2025)
Iran	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2022	2025	46th place (2nd in Division IV) (2022)
Malaysia	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2022	2025	48th place (4th in Division IV) (2022)
Singapore	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2022	2025	47th place (3rd in Division IV) (2022)
Indonesia	0 (3 in lower divisions)	2023	2025	55th place (3rd in Division IV) (2024)
Philippines	0 (3 in lower divisions)	2023	2025	50th place (4th in Division III B) (2024)
Uzbekistan	0 (1 in lower divisions)	2025	2025	53rd place (1st in Division IV) (2025)

*Including participation in official qualifying competition for 1964 World Championships/Olympics. **Including participation in Division III qualification 2013 Men's World Championships. ¶Not including participation in unofficial Group E 1997 Men's World Championships. ⸿Not including participation in unofficial Group D 1987 World Championships.

Breakdown of successor teams

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Czechia (1993–)	32	1993	2025	Champions (7 times)
Czechoslovakia (1920–1992)	52	1920	1992	Champions (6 times)

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Germany (1928–1939), (1952 Winter Olympics), (1991–)	42 (3 in lower divisions)	1928	2025	Runners-up (1930, 2023)
United Team of Germany (1956–1964)	3	1956	1964	6th place (1956, 1960)
West Germany (1951–1990)	24 (9* in lower divisions)	1953	1990	Runners-up (1953)
East Germany (1951–1990)	14 (16** in lower divisions)	1956	1990	5th place (1957, 1965, 1966, 1970)

*Including participation in 3 official qualifying competitions for World Championships/Olympics 1956, 1960, 1964 where United Team of Germany played. **Including participation in 2 official qualifying competitions for World Championships/Olympics 1960, 1964 where United Team of Germany played (1956 counted as usual as East Germany played in the Pool B at 1956 World Championships).

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
ROC [g] (2021)	1	2021	2021	5th place (2021)
Russia (1992–2019)	28	1992	2019	Champions (5 times)
Soviet Union (1954–1991)	34	1954	1991	Champions (22 times)

Team	Number of appearances	Debut	Most recent	Best result
Serbia (2007–)	0 (17 in lower divisions)	2007	2025	26th place (5th in Division I B) (2022)
Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006)	0 (4 in lower divisions)	2003	2006	31st place (2nd in Division II Group A) (2003)
FR Yugoslavia (1995–2002)	0 (7 in lower divisions)	1995	2002	28th place (8th in Group C) (1995)
Yugoslavia (1939), (1951–1991)	1 (30 in lower divisions)	1939	1991	13th place (1939)

Also Switzerland "B" team played at the 1953 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B, West Germany "B" team played at the 1955 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B, Czechoslovakia "B" team played at the 1959 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool B, and Yugoslavia "B" team played at the 1966 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Pool C, but its results were not official and not counted in the final tables.

Results of host nations

Year Host nation(s) Finish 1920 †   Belgium 7th place 1924 *   France 6th place 1928 *    Switzerland 3rd place 1930   Germany Runners-up   Austria 4th place   France 6th place (tie) 1931   Poland 4th place 1932 *   United States Runners-up 1933   Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1934   Italy 9th place 1935    Switzerland Runners-up 1936 *   Germany 5th place 1937   Great Britain Runners-up 1938   Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1939    Switzerland 3rd place 1947   Czechoslovakia Champions 1948 *    Switzerland 3rd place 1949   Sweden 4th place 1950   Great Britain 4th place 1951   France 9th place (2nd in Group B) 1952 *   Norway 9th place 1953    Switzerland 3rd place 1954   Sweden 3rd place 1955 West Germany 6th place 1956 *   Italy 7th place 1957   Soviet Union Runners-up 1958   Norway 8th place 1959   Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1960 *   United States Champions 1961    Switzerland 11th place (3rd in Group B) 1962   United States 3rd place 1963   Sweden Runners-up 1964 *   Austria 13th place (5th in Group B) 1965   Finland 7th place 1966 Yugoslavia 11th place (3rd in Group B) 1967   Austria 14th place (6th in Group B) 1968 *   France 14th place (6th in Group B) 1969   Sweden Runners-up 1970 1971    Switzerland 7th place (1st in Group B) (promoted to 1972 Group A) 1972   Czechoslovakia Champions 1973   Soviet Union Champions 1974   Finland 4th place 1975 West Germany 8th place (2nd in Group B) (promoted to 1976 Group A)

Year Host nation(s) Finish Last round 1976   Poland 7th place (relegated to 1977 Group B) Consolation round 1977   Austria 17th place (9th in Group B) (relegated to 1978 Group C) Lower division 1978   Czechoslovakia Runners-up Final round 1979   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1981   Sweden Runners-up Final round 1982   Finland 5th place First round 1983 West Germany 5th place Consolation round 1985   Czechoslovakia Champions Final round 1986   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1987   Austria 11th place (3rd in Group B) Lower division 1989   Sweden 4th place Final round 1990    Switzerland 9th place (1st in Group B) (promoted to 1991 Group A) Lower division 1991   Finland 5th place Consolation round 1992   Czechoslovakia 3rd place Final round 1993   Germany 5th place Final round 1994   Italy 6th place Final round 1995   Sweden Runners-up Final round 1996   Austria 12th place (relegated to 1997 Group B) Consolation round 1997   Finland 5th place Second round 1998    Switzerland 4th place Final round 1999   Norway 12th place Consolation round 2000   Russia 10th place Preliminary round 2001   Germany 8th place Playoff round 2002   Sweden 3rd place Playoff round 2003   Finland 8th place Playoff round 2004   Czechia 5th place Playoff round 2005   Austria 16th place (relegated to 2006 Division I B) Relegation round 2006   Latvia 10th place Preliminary round 2007   Russia 3rd place Playoff round 2008   Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2009    Switzerland 9th place Preliminary round 2010   Germany 4th place Playoff round 2011   Slovakia 10th place Preliminary round 2012   Finland 4th place Playoff round   Sweden 6th place Playoff round 2013   Sweden Champions Playoff round   Finland 4th place Playoff round 2014   Belarus 7th place Playoff round 2015   Czechia 4th place Playoff round 2016   Russia 3rd place Playoff round 2017   Germany 8th place Playoff round   France 9th place Preliminary round 2018   Denmark 10th place Preliminary round 2019   Slovakia 9th place Preliminary round 2021   Latvia 11th place Preliminary round 2022   Finland Champions Playoff round 2023   Finland 7th place Playoff round   Latvia 3rd place Playoff round 2024   Czechia Champions Playoff round 2025   Sweden 3rd place Playoff round   Denmark 4th place Playoff round 2026    Switzerland TBD TBD 2027   Germany TBD TBD 2028   France TBD TBD 2029 TBD TBD TBD 2030 TBD TBD TBD

Results of defending champions

Year Defending champions Finish 1924 *   Canada Champions 1928 *   Canada Champions 1930   Canada Champions 1931   Canada Champions 1932 *   Canada Champions 1933   Canada Runners-up 1934   United States Runners-up 1935   Canada Champions 1936 *   Canada Runners-up 1937   Great Britain Runners-up 1938   Canada Champions 1939   Canada Champions 1947   Canada Did not participate 1948 *   Czechoslovakia Runners-up 1949   Canada Runners-up 1950   Czechoslovakia Did not participate 1951   Canada Champions 1952 *   Canada Champions 1953   Canada Did not participate 1954   Sweden 3rd place 1955   Soviet Union Runners-up 1956 *   Canada 3rd place 1957   Soviet Union Runners-up 1958   Sweden 3rd place 1959   Canada Champions 1960 *   Canada Runners-up 1961   United States 6th place 1962   Canada Runners-up 1963   Sweden Runners-up 1964 *   Soviet Union Champions 1965   Soviet Union Champions 1966   Soviet Union Champions 1967   Soviet Union Champions 1968 *   Soviet Union Champions 1969   Soviet Union Champions 1970   Soviet Union Champions 1971   Soviet Union Champions 1972   Soviet Union Runners-up 1973   Czechoslovakia 3rd place 1974   Soviet Union Champions 1975   Soviet Union Champions

Year Defending champions Finish Last round 1976   Soviet Union Runners-up Final round 1977   Czechoslovakia Champions Final round 1978   Czechoslovakia Runners-up Final round 1979   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1981   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1982   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1983   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1985   Soviet Union 3rd place Final round 1986   Czechoslovakia 5th place Consolation round 1987   Soviet Union Runners-up Final round 1989   Sweden 4th place Final round 1990   Soviet Union Champions Final round 1991   Soviet Union 3rd place Final round 1992   Sweden Champions Final round 1993   Sweden Runners-up Final round 1994   Russia 5th place Final round 1995   Canada 3rd place Final round 1996   Finland 5th place Final round 1997   Czechia 3rd place Final round 1998   Canada 6th place Final round 1999   Sweden 3rd place Final round 2000   Czechia Champions Playoff round 2001   Czechia Champions Playoff round 2002   Czechia 5th place Playoff round 2003   Slovakia 3rd place Playoff round 2004   Canada Champions Playoff round 2005   Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2006   Czechia Runners-up Playoff round 2007   Sweden 4th place Playoff round 2008   Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2009   Russia Champions Playoff round 2010   Russia Runners-up Playoff round 2011   Czechia 3rd place Playoff round 2012   Finland 4th place Playoff round 2013   Russia 6th place Playoff round 2014   Sweden 3rd place Playoff round 2015   Russia Runners-up Playoff round 2016   Canada Champions Playoff round 2017   Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2018   Sweden Champions Playoff round 2019   Sweden 5th place Playoff round 2021   Finland Runners-up Playoff round 2022   Canada Runners-up Playoff round 2023   Finland 7th place Playoff round 2024   Canada 4th place Playoff round 2025   Czechia 6th place Playoff round 2026   United States TBD TBD

Medal table

National teams in italics no longer compete at the World Championships. ^[4]

Rank	National team [h]	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada	28	16	9	53
2	Soviet Union [i] /   Russia [j]	27	10	10	47
3	Czechoslovakia [k] /   Czechia [l]	13	13	22	48
4	Sweden	11	19	19	49
5	Finland	4	9	3	16
6	United States	3	9	9	21
7	Great Britain	1	2	2	5
8	Slovakia [m]	1	2	1	4
9	Switzerland	0	5	8	13
10	Germany [n] /   West Germany [o]	0	3	2	5
11	Austria	0	0	2	2
12	Latvia	0	0	1	1
Totals (15 nations)		88	88	88	264

Droughts

This section is a list of droughts associated with the participation of men's national ice hockey teams in the IIHF World Championships, including final appearance and world champion droughts up to and including the 2023 IIHF World Championship. Those teams which have not participated in any World Championship are listed by the year that they entered the IIHF tournaments.

Note:

• Does not include droughts between 1940 and 1946, when no championships were held during World War II, nor were held during the Olympic years 1980, 1984, and 1988, and 2020 championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Longest active final droughts

Does not include two teams that made the 2025 Final: Switzerland and the United States.

Team	Last appearance in the final	Subsequent semifinal losses	Drought
Denmark	Never [p]	1 (2025)	34 years
Latvia	Never [p]	1 (2023)	34 years
Slovakia	2012	0	13 years
ROC [g]	2015	3 (2016, 2017, 2019)	10 years
Sweden	2018	2 (2024, 2025)	7 years
Finland	2022	0	3 years
Canada	2023	1 (2024)	2 years
Germany	2023	0	2 years
Czechia	2024	0	1 year

Longest all-time final droughts

     Active final drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. appearance in the final	Intervening semifinal losses	Next appearance in the final	Drought
Denmark	Never [p]	1 (2025)	active	34 years
Latvia	Never [p]	1 (2023)	active	34 years
United States	Never [p]	12 (1994, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023)	2025	33 years
Germany	Never [p]	2 (2010, 2021)	2023	31 years
Switzerland	Never [p]	2 (1992, 1998)	2013	21 years
Czechia	2010	5 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022)	2024	13 years
Slovakia	2012	0	active	13 years
ROC [g]	2015	0	active	10 years
Sweden	2018	2 (2024, 2025)	active	7 years
Canada	2009	0	2015	5 years
	1997	0	2003
Finland	2001	1 (2002)	2006	4 years

Longest active champion droughts

Does not include the most-recent World Champion: United States.

Team	Last Champion	Subsequent Final losses	Drought
Switzerland	Never (debut in 1920)	4 (2013, 2018, 2024, 2025)	106 years
Germany	Never (debut in 1928)	1 (2023)	98 years
Great Britain	1936	Never	89 years
Slovakia	2002	1 (2012)	23 years
ROC [g]	2014	1 (2015)	11 years
Sweden	2018	0	7 years
Finland	2022	0	3 years
Canada	2023	0	2 years
Czechia	2024	0	1 year

Longest all-time champion droughts

     Active champion drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. champion	Intervening final losses	Next champion	Drought
Switzerland	Never (debut in 1920)	4 (2013, 2018, 2024, 2025)	active	106 years
Germany	Never (debut in 1928)	1 (2023)	active	98 years
Great Britain	1936	Never	active	89 years
United States	1960	Never	2025	64 years
Canada	1961	Never	1994	32 years
Sweden	1962	Never	1987	24 years
Slovakia	2002	1 (2012)	active	23 years
Finland	1995	4 (1998, 1999, 2001, 2007)	2011	15 years
ROC [g]	1993	1 (2002)	2008	14 years
Czechia	2010	0	2024	13 years

Longest active appearance droughts

Does not include teams that have not made their first appearance. Does not include droughts when all lower division tournaments were cancelled for two years (2020–2021) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team	Last appearance	WC Missed
Armenia [q]	2010 (Division III B)	14
Greece [r]	2013 (Division III)	11
Ireland [s]	2013 (Division III)	11
Belarus	2021	4
ROC [g]	2021	4

Longest all-time appearance droughts

Only includes droughts begun after a team's first appearance and until the team ceased to exist. Updated to include participation for the 2024 World Championships.

     Active appearance drought is highlighted

Team	Prev. appearance	Next appearance	WC Missed
Lithuania [t]	1938	1993 (Group C)	44
Latvia [t]	1939	1993 (Group C)	43
Hong Kong	1987 (Group D)	2014 (Division III)	25
South Africa	1966 (Group C)	1992 (Group C2)	22
Japan	1936	1957	13
Armenia	2010 (Division III B)	active	13
Denmark	1949	1962 (Group B)	12
Hungary	1939	1959 (Group B)	12
Australia	1962 (Group B)	1974 (Group C)	11
Romania	1947	1959 (Group B)	11
Greece	2013 (Division III)	active	10
Ireland	2013 (Division III)	active	10
Mongolia	2013 (Division III Q)	2023 (Division IV)	8
North Korea	1993 (Group C)	2002 (Division II Q)	8
Luxembourg	1992 (Group C2)	2000 (Group D)	7
Canada [u]	1969	1977	7
Great Britain	1953 (Group B)	1961 (Group B)	7
Bosnia & Herzegovina	2008 (Division III Q)	2015 (Division III)	6
New Zealand	1989 (Group D)	1995 (Group C2)	5
Netherlands	1955 (Group B)	1961 (Group C)	5
Germany [c]	1939	1952	5
France	1937	1950	5
Yugoslavia	1939	1951 (Group B)	4
China	1974 (Group C)	1978 (Group C)	3
Bulgaria	1963 (Group C)	1967 (Group C)	3
Norway	1938	1949	3
Sweden	1931	1935	3
Belarus	2021	suspended	3
ROC [g]	2021	suspended	3
United Arab Emirates	2010 (Division III A)	2013 (Division III)	2
South Korea	1982 (Group C)	1986 (Group C)	2
Italy	1961 (Group B)	1964 (Group B)	2
	1956	1959
	1936	1939
	1930	1933
Poland	1952	1955	2
United States	1952	1955	2
	1924	1931
Belgium	1952 (Group B)	1955 (Group B)	2
Czechoslovakia	1949	1952	2
Finland	1939	1949	2
Switzerland	1930	1933	2
Turkey	2000 (Group D)	2002 (Division II A)	1
	1994 (Group C2)	1996 (Group D)
FR Yugoslavia [v]	1998 (Group C)	2000 (Group C)	1
Spain	1986 (Group C)	1989 (Group D)	1
	1979 (Group C)	1982 (Group C)
Soviet Union	1961	1963	1
East Germany [c]	1961	1963	1
	1957	1959
Austria	1959 (Group B)	1961 (Group B)	1
	1957	1959 (Group B)
	1953 (Group B)	1955 (Group B)
	1949	1951 (Group B)
	1938	1947
	1936	1938

Longest active top division appearance droughts

Team	Last top division appearance	Drought
Lithuania	1938	87 years
Belgium	1950	75 years
Australia	1960	65 years
Romania	1977	48 years
Netherlands	1981	44 years
Japan	2004	21 years
Ukraine	2007	18 years
South Korea	2018	7 years
Belarus	2021	4 years
Russia	2021	4 years
Italy	2022	3 years

Teams with no IIHF World Championship appearances

22 out of 84 current IIHF members have not entered in any World Championship tournaments.

Nation	IIHF Member since	Notes
Algeria*	2019	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2008 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2022.
Andorra*	1995	Hosted the 1997 IIHF World Championship Group D tournament in Canillo. Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2017.
Argentina*	1998	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017, the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018 and the IIHF Development Cup since 2023.
Azerbaijan	1992	There is no national team and Azerbaijan has not registered at least one player, nor entered in any IIHF tournaments due to lack of ice rinks and ice hockey activities in the country.
Bahrain*	2024	Participated in the Asian Winter Games in 2011 and 2025, the GCC Games in 2022 and the Arab Cup in 2023.
Brazil*	1984	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017 and the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018.
Chile**	1999	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament in 2017. Currently an IIHF affiliate member and therefore only to participate in the now-defunct IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. Their last appearance was 2015. Due to the cancellation of the 2019 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship, the IIHF can no longer govern inline hockey. [5]
Colombia*	2019	Participated in the now-defunct Pan American Tournament from 2014 to 2017, the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2018 and the IIHF Development Cup since 2022.
India	1989	Only participated in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2009 to 2018. The national team had not been active until 2025.
Jamaica*	2012	Jamaica became the first Caribbean nation to join the IIHF on 18 May 2012. [6] Participated in the Amerigol LATAM Cup in 2019.
Kenya*	2024	Kenya has not played an official game against other national team so far.
Lebanon*	2019	Played four exhibition games against other national teams in 2017. Participated in the Arab Cup in 2023.
Liechtenstein*	2001	Played two exhibition games, lost twice to Luxembourg in 2003 and 2007. Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2022.
Macau*	2005	Participated in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2008 to 2019 and the Asian Winter Games in 2007 and 2017. The national team had not been active until 2025.
Morocco*	2010	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2008 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2017. The national team has not been active since 2017.
Nepal*	2016	Unknown
North Macedonia*	2001	Played two exhibition games against Bosnia & Herzegovina over the weekend. They won the first game 8–7 and lost the second game 7–6 in overtime a day later. [7] Participated in the IIHF Development Cup in 2018.
Oman*	2014	Participated in the GCC Gulf Championship from 2010 to 2016, the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia from 2015 to 2019 and the Arab Cup in 2023.
Portugal*	1999	Participated in the IIHF Development Cup since 2017.
Puerto Rico*	2022	Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to join the IIHF. Participated in the Amerigol LATAM Cup since 2019 and the IIHF Development Cup in 2025.
Qatar*	2012	Participated in the GCC Gulf Championship in 2014 and 2016, the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia Division I in 2016 and the Asian Winter Games in 2017. The national team has not been active since 2017.
Tunisia*	2021	Participated in the Arab Cup in 2023.

*IIHF associate member **IIHF affiliate member

Notes

1. The modern format for the World Championship features a minimum of 40 teams: 16 teams in the main championship group (Top Division), 12 teams in Division I, and 12 teams in Division II. If there are more than 40 teams, the rest compete in Division III, and the newly created Division IV. ^[3]
2. Czechoslovakia participated 52 times in the World Championship prior to being divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. The IIHF considers the Czech Republic as the successor team of Czechoslovakia.
3. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany since 1949, has been represented by the same governing body, Deutscher Eishockey-Bund (DEB), since 1909. After World War II, DEB was re-admitted to the IIHF as West Germany. East Germany fielded a team of its own before joining with West Germany and DEB in the German reunification. Thus, the IIHF considers Germany and West Germany as one entity and officially attributes all international results of the DEB team since 1909 to Germany, including the results of West Germany from 1951–1990.
4. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1939) and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1951–1991) participated 31 times in the World Championship under the name "Yugoslavia" prior to its breakup by the secession of many of its constituent republics in 1992. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia participated 7 times from 1995–2002 under the name "FR Yugoslavia", then changed its name to "Serbia and Montenegro" in 2003. The FR Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro are considered the predecessors of the current Serbia team by the IIHF, which first participated under that name in 2007. These national teams which resulted from the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia in 1992 (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia), are considered distinct entities from the Yugoslavia team of 1939, 1951–1991.
5. The USSR participated 34 times in the World Championship prior to being dissolved in 1991. The 15 nations that were former Soviet Republics. 7 out of 15 former Soviet Republics now compete separately until Armenia (2004), Georgia (2013), Turkmenistan (2018) and Kyrgyzstan (2019). The IIHF considers Russia as the successor team of the USSR.
6. Chinese Taipei competed unofficially in the 1987 World Championship Group D tournament in Perth, Australia. Due to the political status of Taiwan and related issues with China, the games were considered as exhibition games and the results does not count towards the standings of the tournament.
7. Russia was suspended by the IIHF due to the state-sponsored doping scandal, but they were allowed to participate in the 2021 IIHF World Championship as the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee).
8. The IIHF medal table is grouped by its member associations.
9. Soviet Union won 22 gold medals, 7 silver medals and 5 bronze medals (34 medals in total).
10. Russia, who succeseded the Soviet Union in IIHF competitions, won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 5 bronze medals (13 medals in total). Russia is currently banned from participating in international tournaments due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
11. Czechoslovakia won 6 gold medals, 12 silver medals and 16 bronze medals (34 medals in total).
12. Czechia (also known as the Czech Republic) assumed the IIHF membership of the Czech Ice Hockey Association following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, and have won 7 gold medals, 1 silver medal and 6 bronze medals (14 medals in total) since 1993. The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation was founded in 1993 and their medal totals do not include those won by Czechoslovakia as per the IIHF.
13. The Slovak Ice Hockey Federation was founded in 1993, and admitted as a member of the IIHF in the same year. As per the IIHF, their medal totals do not include those won by the Czech Ice Hockey Association represented by national team of Czechoslovakia.
14. Germany won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals (4 medals in total).
15. West Germany succeeded Germany in IIHF competitions, both of which were governed by the German Ice Hockey Federation. From 1949 until reunification of country in 1990, West Germany won 1 silver medal.
16. IIHF re-introduced a playoff system in 1992.
17. Armenia was suspended by the IIHF in April 2010 due to the use of ineligible players on their national team that participate in the 2010 World Championship Division III Group B. Thus, all their games were counted as forfeited 5–0 wins for the opposing teams and were not included in the final ranking of the tournament. The national team has not been active since 2010.
18. Greece is currently not active in any IIHF tournaments because they cannot fulfilled their minimum participation standards of having one operational indoor rink. The national team has not been active until the 2024 IIHF Development Cup, a tournament for non-competing IIHF countries.
19. Ireland is currently not active in any IIHF tournaments because with the closure of the Dundalk Ice Dome and they can no longer meet their minimum participation standards.
20. Participated as part of the USSR from 1954–1991.
21. Canada withdrew from IIHF tournaments from 1970–1976, and was later suspended after a dispute over allowing professional players at the tournament. Canada returned to the IIHF tournament in 1977.
22. The host Dutch government had suspended diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia due to the Kosovo War and did not allow the Yugoslavian team to participate in the 1999 tournament.

References

1. Steiss, Adam (2 March 2020). "IIHF cancels March tournaments". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
2. Steiss, Adam (21 March 2020). "2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship cancelled". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
3. "2014-2018 IIHF Statutes and Bylaws" (PDF). IIHF.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
4. "IIHF - Medallists". Archived from the original on 2021-12-27. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
5. Merk, Martin (24 June 2019). "Statutes, Regulations amended". International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
6. "Welcome Jamaica & Qatar". IIHF.com. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
7. "Macedonia wins and loses in OT in Bosnia and Hercegovina". Eurohockey.com. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2018.

External links

• IIHF official website