The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the European Championships, the precursor to the World Championships, were first held in 1910. The tournament held at the 1920 Summer Olympics is recognized as the first Ice Hockey World Championship. From 1920 to 1968, the Olympic hockey tournament was also considered the World Championship for that year.
The Russian men's national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Russia, overseen by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. As of 2021, they were rated third in the IIHF World Ranking. The team has competed internationally from 1992 until it was provisionally suspended in 2022, and is recognized by the IIHF as the successor to the Soviet Union team and CIS team. Russia has been one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six," the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. The European nations of the Big Six participate in the Euro Hockey Tour, which Russia won nine times since 2005. Since September 2021, the head coach is Alexei Zhamnov, who took over from Valeri Bragin.
The Chinese women's national ice hockey team represents China at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Women's Championships, the Asian Winter Games, and other international competitions. The women's national team is governed by the Chinese Ice Hockey Association. China's national women's program is ranked twentieth in the world by the IIHF and has 808 active players as of 2020.
Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since 1920. The men's tournament was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games program in 1924, in France. The women's tournament was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics.
The Kazakhstan men's national ice hockey team is controlled by Kazakhstan Ice Hockey Federation. Kazakhstan is ranked 16th in the world as of 2022. They have competed at the Winter Olympics twice, in 1998 and 2006. The national team joined the IIHF in 1992 and first played internationally at the 1993 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The team has frequently played at the elite division of the World Championship, often moving between there and the Division I level.
The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as high as 6th internationally. They are one of eight countries never to have played below the Division I level. As of 2024 the Polish national team plays at the top level of the World Championship.
The Israel national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Israel. Israel was ranked 35th as of May 2017 by the International Ice Hockey Federation. In 2019, the team won the gold medal in the 2019 IIHF World Championship Division II Group B tournament in Mexico City.
The 2008 IIHF World Championship was played between May 2 and May 18, 2008 in the Canadian cities of Halifax and Quebec City (Quebec). The two venues were the Halifax Metro Centre and the Colisée Pepsi. The tournament was won by Russia which claimed its first gold medal since 1993.
The Spanish men's national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of Spain. The team is administered by the Spanish Ice Sports Federation, itself a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). As of April 2020, the Spanish men's national program is 31st on the IIHF World Rankings and has 135 registered players. The men's national team currently competes at the IIHF World Championship Division II, Group A level.
The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned tournaments over the previous four years. The ranking is used to determine seedings and qualification requirements for future IIHF tournaments. The current leader in rankings is Canada in both men's and women's play.
Jin Fengling is a Chinese retired ice hockey forward. She was a member of the Chinese women's national ice hockey team from 2000 to 2013 and represented China at nine IIHF World Championships, three Asian Winter Games, the 2011 Winter Universiade, and at the Winter Olympic Games in 2002 and 2010.
Park Sung-je or Park Seong-je is a Korean retired ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the South Korean national team, he participated in the men's ice hockey tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PeyongChang and in nine Ice Hockey World Championships.
Masahito Haruna is a Japanese former professional ice hockey goaltender and current assistant coach of the women's, women's under-18, and men's national ice hockey teams of Japan.
The 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships was the 39th edition of Ice Hockey World Junior Championship, played from December 26, 2014 to January 5, 2015. It was co-hosted by Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and organized by Hockey Canada, Hockey Quebec, the Ontario Hockey Federation, the Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment and Evenko. Games were split between Air Canada Centre in Toronto and Bell Centre in Montreal, with Montreal hosting Group A matches and two quarter finals, and Toronto hosting Group B, along with the relegation games, two quarter finals, along with the semi-finals, bronze medal, and gold medal games.
The 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship Division II consisted of three international ice hockey tournaments organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Division II A, Division II B and Division II B Qualification represent the fourth, fifth and sixth tier of the IIHF Women's World Championship.
Michaela Matejová is a Slovak retired ice hockey defenseman and former member of the Slovak national ice hockey team.
Chiho Osawa is a Japanese retired ice hockey player and former captain of the Japanese national team. She most recently played in the 2020–21 season of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Luleå HF/MSSK.
Miho Shishiuchi is a Japanese ice hockey player and member of the Japanese national team. She plays with Toyota Cygnus in the Women's Japan Ice Hockey League (WJIHL) and All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship.
The women's tournament in ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held in Gangneung, South Korea between 10 and 22 February 2018. Eight countries qualified for the tournament; five of them did so automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation, one, South Korea, automatically qualified as hosts, while the two others took part in a qualification tournament. Under a special agreement with the IOC and the IIHF, twelve North Korean players joined the host team to form a united team. They were allowed to have an expanded roster of 35 where 22 players dress for each game. Three North Korean players were selected for each game by coach Sarah Murray.
Patrick Francheterre is a French retired ice hockey player, coach, manager and international administrator. His playing career included time with CPM Croix and Dogues de Bordeaux as a player-coach, and with the France men's national ice hockey team at the Ice Hockey World Championships and the 1968 Winter Olympics. After retiring from playing, he served as the head coach of the national team, and two terms as its general manager. He later became a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation council and was honored with the Paul Loicq Award in 2017 for contributions to international ice hockey.
Italy 