IIHF World Ranking

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. 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 United States' teams are ranked first in both men's and women's play. Russia men's national [ice hockey team|Russia]'s men team has more points overall in the men's rankings but is excluded from the list due to its ongoing suspension from IIHF competition.

Description

The system was approved at the IIHF congress of September 2003. According to former IIHF President René Fasel, the system was designed to be simple to understand and "reflect the long-term quality of all national hockey programs and their commitment to international hockey".
The ranking is used to determine the seeding of the teams for the next World Championship and to select the teams which can participate in Winter Olympics without playing in the qualifying round. For example, for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the first eight teams of the Men's World Ranking and the first six of the Women's World Ranking were pre-qualified. Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2019 ranking. Twelve spots were made available for teams. The top eight teams in the World Ranking after the 2019 [Men's Ice Hockey World Championships|2019 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships] received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. All IIHF teams had an opportunity to Ice hockey at the [2022 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification|qualify] for the event. Teams that wished to participate ranked below 36th played in two preliminary qualifications in November 2019. The two winners of the first preliminaries and teams ranked 27–36th were divided in three groups to play in the second pre-qualification round in December 2019. The three winners of those preliminaries joined teams ranked 18–26th for the third pre-qualification round of three groups in February 2020. The winner of each of these pre-qualification groups and teams ranked 9–17 were divided in three groups to play in the final qualification in August 2021. The winner of each group then joined the eight top-ranked teams plus the host in the Olympics in 2022.
The women's tournament uses a similar qualification format. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship received automatic berths into the ice hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 16th and below were divided into three groups where they played in a preliminary qualification round in the October 2021. The three group winners from the round advanced to the final qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through fifteenth joined them.

Formula

The world ranking is based on the final positions of the last four Men's or Women's IIHF World Championships and last Olympic ice hockey tournament. Points are assigned according to a team's final placement in the World Championship or the Olympic tournament. The world champion receives 1600 points and then a 20-point interval is used between teams. However, a 40-point interval is used between gold and silver, silver and bronze, fourth and fifth, and eighth and ninth. This is used as a bonus for the teams who reach the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the final and for winning the gold medal. Prior to 2023, the world champion received 1200 points, with other teams receiving the same point interval decreases.

Place	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	...
Points	1600	1560	1520	1500	1460	1440	1420	1400	1360	1340	1320	1300	1280	1260	1240	1220	1200	1180	1160	1140	...

Points awarded in the current year are valued at the full amount. Points award in the prior years decline linearly by 25% until the fifth year when they are dropped from the calculation. Under this formula, any year with a World Championship and an Olympics will be counted twice in the tables, for a maximum ranking of: 5600 points at the completion of an Olympic year, 5200 points at the completion of the following year, 4800 points the next year, and 4400 points in the year before the next Olympics. For example, if after the 2026 Championship a team had won the gold medal in the last four championships and the last Olympic tournament, their score would be 5600:

Competition	Valuation coefficient	Points
2026 IIHF World Championship	100%	1600
2026 Winter Olympics	100%	1600
2025 IIHF World Championship	75%	1200
2024 IIHF World Championship	50%	800
2023 IIHF World Championship	25%	400
~~2022 IIHF World Championship~~	0%	0
~~2022 Winter Olympics~~	0%	0
Counts Five Tournaments from Four Latest Years		5600

Men's rankings

The Men's 2025 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.
All tournaments in 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the 2019 World Ranking, while the remaining divisions received points based on the previous year's results. For a fairer ranking and point distribution, the IIHF Council decided that the points for 2021 in case of tournament cancellations are given according to the ranking position of each team in the 2021 Pre-Championship Report – taking into consideration the results in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – rather than by seeding as in the past.
For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme. On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC", and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.
Russia and Belarus were expelled from competing in all World Championships since 2022 because of their invasion of Ukraine. They were, however, granted the points of the positions they would have been seeded based on their 2021 ranking: in 2022, Russia in third place received 1120 points, and Belarus in 14th place received 860 points. Several nations withdrew from the 2022 World Championships over COVID-19 concerns. These nations similarly received the points of the positions they would have been seeded within their respective tournaments: Australia as second place in IIA received 560 points, New Zealand as third place in IIB received 440 points, North Korea as first place in IIIA received 360 points, Hong Kong as second place in IIIB received 220 points, and the Philippines as fourth place in IV received 100 points.
The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2024 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships and the calculations of the rankings during the 2025 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

2025 Rank	2024 Rank	Team	WC division	WC2025	WC2024	WC2023	WC2022	OLY2022	WC2021	2025 Total	+/−	2024 Total	+/−
1	2		Expelled	1560	1520	1520	1120	1160	1060	4030		4065
2	6			1600	1460	1500	1100	1060	1120	3985		3945
3	5			1560	1560	1460	1060	1000	1040	3975		3945
4	1			1460	1500	1600	1160	1040	1200	3935		4100
5	7			1520	1520	1440	1040	1100	960	3915		3910
6	4			1440	1600	1400	1120	960	1020	3860		3945
7	3			1420	1400	1420	1200	1200	1160	3780		3955
8	8			1360	1440	1560	1020	940	1100	3710		3865
9	11			1500	1280	1340	960	1020	900	3625		3500
10	9			1320	1420	1360	1000	1120	1000	3595		3750
11	10			1340	1360	1520	940	920	920	3585		3660
12	13			1400	1340	1260	920	800	780	3465		3340
13	12			1300	1320	1280	880	880	880	3370		3380
14	15			1240	1300	1320	860	700	940	3265		3305
15	14			1220	1260	1300	900	860	840	3255		3325
16	16		Expelled	1220	1240	1260	860	840	840	3205		3245
17	19			1280	1180	1220	800	820	740	3180		3090
18	18			1260	1200	1240	780	780	720	3170		3090
19	17			1200	1240	1200	820	660	860	3100		3095
20	20			1180	1160	1160	840	740	820	3025		3025
21	21			1120	1220	1180	700	760	700	2990		3010
22	24			1140	1120	1080	680	680	640	2860		2770
23	23			1100	1140	1120	720	640	660	2855		2825
24	27			1160	1080	1060	660	620	600	2820		2665
25	22			1060	1100	1140	740	720	760	2820		2875
26	25			1080	1060	1100	760	600	680	2765		2735
27	26			1020	1020	1040	600	900	500	2680		2675
28	28			1040	1040	1020	640	580	620	2635		2570
29	30			1000	1000	960	540	520	520	2495		2380
30	29			960	980	1000	580	560	580	2480		2445
31	32			980	960	940	560	540	540	2445		2350
32	31			940	940	980	620	500	560	2415		2375
33	33			860	900	900	520	420	460	2220		2160
34	36			920	920	840	360	320	200	2200		1940
35	34			820	860	880	480	480	440	2145		2110
36	35			880	880	920	560	—	480	2140		1970
37	39			900	840	820	440	—	420	2050		1780
38	37			780	780	800	420	380	340	1965		1865
39	41			800	820	780	440	—	360	1915		1715
40	40			760	760	720	300	440	240	1875		1730
41	38			680	740	760	340	460	300	1815		1785
42	43			740	720	660	220	340	140	1750		1530
43	45			720	700	600	160	400	100	1685		1455
44	46			700	660	700	320	—	260	1625		1410
45	42			600	620	740	400	360	400	1625		1655
46	44			620	680	640	280	300	280	1595		1520
47	50			840	800	0	460	—	380	1555		1125
48	47			660	640	680	240	—	220	1540		1325
49	48			640	600	580	200	260	160	1495		1305
50	49			560	560	560	220	280	180	1385		1275
52	53			520	540	480	100	—	60	1190		965
51	51			500	520	540	120	—	40	1190		995
53	57			540	480	460	—	—	—	1130		825
54	56			580	580		360	—	320	1105		840
55	52			440	460	440	80	240	120	1085		980
56	54			400	500	520	140	—	—	1070		960
57	55			380	420	500	100	—	80	970		865
58	58			420	440	420	—	—	—	960		755
59	—			480	—	—	—	—	—	480		—	—
60	—			460	—	—	—	—	—	460		0

Women's rankings

The Women's 2025 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2025 [Women's Ice Hockey World Championships|2025], 2024, 2023, and 2022, and at the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament of 2022.
Most of the tournaments in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, teams were awarded points based on their seeding for their respective tournaments. The Championship division received points based on the previous year's ranking, while Divisions 2020 [IIHF Women's World Championship Division I|IA, IB], and 2020 IIHF [Women's World Championship Division II|IIA] received points based on the previous year's results. Divisions IIB and III were completed and scored as scheduled in 2020.
For the 2022 Winter Olympics, Russia was still under a 2019 ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency because of that country's state-sponsored doping scheme. On 19 February 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced that individual athletes from Russia, who had consistently passed ongoing anti-doping tests, could compete under the acronym "ROC", and that the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee would be used for the COVID-19 pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics and the unchanged 2022 Winter Olympics.
The following table lists the ranking following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. and the calculations of the rankings following the 2025 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. Scores in italics represent minimum possible scores for unfinished tournaments. All tournament's points have their full value displayed, while the ranking is calculated by adding the current year's tournament points to the depreciated previous three years' tournament points as explained above. The depreciated percentages are shown in the column headings, first for the current total, then for the new total. The "Total" columns are the sums of the current tournament points and the depreciated values for past tournaments. The "+/–" columns indicate the increase or decrease in ranking since the last tournament. A dash in a tournament column indicates that the country did not participate.

2025 Rank	2024 Rank	Team	WC division	WC2025	WC2024	WC2023	WC2022	OLY2022	WC2021	2025 Total	+/−	2024 Total	+/−
1	2			1600	1560	1600	1160	1160	1160	4150		4210
2	1			1560	1600	1560	1200	1200	1200	4140		4270
3	3			1520	1520	1460	1040	1120	1120	3930		3975
4	4			1500	1500	1520	1120	1020	1020	3920		3965
5	5			1460	1460	1500	1100	1100	1100	3855		3960
6	6		Expelled	1440	1440	1460	1100	1060	1060	3790		3880
7	8			1440	1420	1440	1020	1000	960	3730		3750
8	7			1420	1400	1420	1060	1040	1040	3705		3775
9	9			1400	1440	1400	960	860	1000	3635		3650
10	10			1340	1300	1360	1000	920	960	3475		3520
11	11			1300	1340	1300	940	940	940	3425		3490
12	14			1360	1320	1240	900	840	880	3405		3340
13	12			1240	1360	1320	820	960	740	3365		3425
14	15			1320	1260	1280	860	900	860	3345		3315
15	13			1260	1280	1340	920	880	920	3340		3415
16	16			1280	1200	1220	880	820	840	3215		3175
17	17			1220	1240	1260	840	740	780	3175		3170
18	19			1200	1160	1160	780	800	820	3045		3025
19	18			1120	1220	1200	740	780	800	3015		3080
20	21			1160	1140	1120	700	720	660	2930		2855
21	20			1060	1100	1180	800	760	760	2865		2955
22	22			1100	1120	1140	720	680	680	2860		2845
23	23			1140	1080	1100	760	660	720	2855		2795
24	27			1180	1180	1080	680		700	2775		2505
25	24			1080	1060	1060	660	700	640	2745		2695
26	26			1020	1020	1020	640	620	540	2610		2550
27	25			980	1040	1040	620	640	620	2595		2605
28	28			1040	1000	1000	580	600	520	2585		2470
29	31			960	940	940	560		560	2275		2065
30	29			860	880	860	540	580	580	2260		2275
31	32			900	980	960	460		400	2230		2030
32	30			880	920	840	380	560	460	2225		2135
33	33			940	900	920	540		500	2210		1985
34	34			840	800	800	440	520	340	2080		1965
35	38			920	840	820	460		380	2075		1780
36	35			740	860	900	520		420	1965		1900
37	37			760	760	880	500		480	1895		1790
38	36			720	740	760	420	540	360	1895		1880
39	39			780	820	780	420		440	1890		1725
40	42			1000	960		620		600	1875		1420
41	41			800	780	720	320			1825		1480
42	40			680	700	740	340		320	1660		1505
43	44			700	680	700	280			1630		1345
44	43			660	660	680	300		300	1570		1395
45	45			820	720					1360		720
46	46			640	660					1135		660