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 (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 men's play and the United States in women's play.

Top 20 rankings as of April 2020[1]

Men's Rank Change* Team Points 1  Canada 3470 2  Russia 3400 3  Finland 3345 4  Sweden 3325 5  Czech Republic 3200 6  United States 3140 7  Germany 3090 8   Switzerland 3060 9  Slovakia 2835 10  Latvia 2810 11  Norway 2765 12  Denmark 2685 13 1  Belarus 2545 14 1  France 2540 15 1  Italy 2480 16 3  Kazakhstan 2420 17 2  Austria 2415 18 1  South Korea 2385 19 2  Great Britain 2380 20 2  Slovenia 2345

Women's Rank Change* Team Points 1  United States 3600 2  Canada 3450 3  Finland 3390 4  Russia 3290 5   Switzerland 3170 6  Japan 3070 7 1  Czech Republic 3030 8 1  Germany 3000 9 2  Sweden 2920 10  France 2760 11  Denmark 2750 12 2  Hungary 2720 13  Norway 2660 14 2  Austria 2640 15  Slovakia 2510 16  South Korea 2455 17  Italy 2445 18 3  Netherlands 2315 19 1  China 2250 20 2  Poland 2235

Description

The system was approved at the IIHF congress of September 2003.[2] According to 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".[3]

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 2014 Winter Olympics, the first nine 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 2014 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2012 ranking. Twelve spots were made available for teams. The top nine teams in the World Ranking after the 2012 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. All IIHF teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams that wished to participate ranked below 29th played a preliminary qualification in September 2012. The winner of the preliminary and teams ranked 19–29th were divided in three groups to play in the pre-qualification round in November 2012. The winner of each pre-qualification group and teams ranked 10–18 were divided in three groups to play in the final qualification in February 2013. The winner of each group then joined the nine top-ranked teams in the Olympics in 2014.

The women's tournament uses a similar qualification format. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2012 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 19th and below were divided into two groups where they played in a preliminary qualification round in the autumn of 2012. The two winners and teams ranked 13–18 were divided into two groups where they played in the pre-qualification round in November 2012. The two group winners from the round advanced to the final qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through twelfth joined them.[4]

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 1200 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.[1]

Place	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	...
Points	1200	1160	1120	1100	1060	1040	1020	1000	960	940	920	900	880	860	840	820	800	780	760	740	...

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 (gold medal in all five events) of: 4200 points at the completion of an Olympic year, 3900 points at the completion of the following year, 3600 points the next year, and 3300 points in the year before the next Olympics. For example, if after the 2020 Championship a team had won the gold medal in the last four championships and the last Olympic tournament, their score would be 3600:

Competition	Valuation coefficient	Points
2020 IIHF World Championship	100%	1200
2019 IIHF World Championship	75%	900
2018 IIHF World Championship	50%	600
2018 Winter Olympics	50%	600
2017 IIHF World Championship	25%	300
2016 IIHF World Championship	0%	0
Counts Five Tournaments from Four Latest Years		3600
Starting April 2014, Women's rankings count Olympics points twice, to be on same formula as Men's rankings, as no Women's top division World Championship is held in Olympic years

Men's rankings

The Men's 2020 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017, and at the 2018 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics, Russia's Olympic Committee and many of its athletes were banned for illegal doping.[5] The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players,[6] concerned that the KHL would disallow its players from participating in the tournament, as the NHL had done. The ice hockey team from the Russian hockey federation played under the banner of the International Olympic Committee as "Olympic Athletes from Russia", along with other Russian athletes not banned for doping.

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.

The following table lists the full breakdown of ranking following the 2019 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, and the ranking for the 2020 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. 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.

2020 Rank	2019 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2020)	WC2020 (—) (100%)	WC2019 (100%) (75%)	WC2018 (75%) (50%)	OLY2018 (75%) (50%)	WC2017 (50%) (25%)	WC2016 (25%) (0%)	2020 Total	+/−	2019 Total	+/−
1	1	Canada	Championship	1200	1160	1100	1120	1160	1200	3470		3705
2	2	Russia	Championship	1160	1120	1040	1200	1120	1120	3400		3640	1
3	3	Finland	Championship	1120	1200	1060	1040	1100	1160	3345		3615	2
4	4	Sweden	Championship	1100	1060	1200	1060	1200	1040	3325		3615	2
5	5	Czech Republic	Championship	1060	1100	1020	1100	1020	1060	3200		3465	1
6	6	United States	Championship	1040	1020	1120	1020	1060	1100	3140		3430	2
7	7	Germany	Championship	1020	1040	920	1160	1000	1020	3090		3355	1
8	8	Switzerland	Championship	1000	1000	1160	940	1040	920	3060		3325	1
9	9	Slovakia	Championship	960	960	960	920	860	960	2835		3040	1
10	10	Latvia	Championship	940	940	1000	860	940	880	2810		3025	1
11	11	Norway	Championship	920	900	880	1000	920	940	2765		3005	2
12	12	Denmark	Championship	900	920	940	800	900	1000	2685		2925
13	14	Belarus	Championship	880	780	840	880	880	900	2545	1	2735
14	13	France	Division I A	800	840	900	840	960	860	2540	1	2840
15	16	Italy	Championship	860	860	780	760	820	780	2480	1	2620	3
16	19	Kazakhstan	Championship	840	800	760	820	760	820	2420	3	2570	1
17	15	Austria	Division I A	780	820	860	780	800	740	2415	2	2635	2
18	17	South Korea	Division I A	760	760	820	900	780	720	2385	1	2620	1
19	20	Great Britain	Championship	820	880	800	660	680	660	2380	1	2480	2
20	18	Slovenia	Division I A	740	740	720	960	840	800	2345	2	2620	3
21	21	Hungary	Division I A	720	720	740	700	720	840	2160		2370	1
22	22	Poland	Division I B	660	660	700	740	740	760	2060		2300	1
23	24	Lithuania	Division I B	680	700	680	560	640	640	1985	1	2110	1
24	23	Japan	Division I B	640	640	660	720	660	700	1975	1	2180
25	27	Romania	Division I A	700	680	600	580	560	580	1940	2	1990	2
26	25	Ukraine	Division I B	600	600	620	680	700	680	1875	1	2095	1
27	26	Estonia	Division I B	620	620	640	600	620	600	1860	1	2010
28	28	Netherlands	Division II A	560	580	560	640	580	560	1740		1910
29	29	Croatia	Division II A	540	540	580	620	600	620	1695		1895	2
30	30	Serbia	Division I B	580	560	520	540	520	500	1660		1740
31	31	Spain	Division II A	500	500	440	520	460	540	1470		1585
32	32	China	Division II A	480	480	500	440	440	460	1420		1520	1
33	33	Iceland	Division II B	420	420	460	480	480	480	1325		1485	1
34	34	Israel	Division II A	460	440	400	460	400	400	1320		1385
35	35	Australia	Division II A	520	520	540	—	540	440	1315		1305	1
36	37	Belgium	Division II B	440	460	480	—	500	520	1150	1	1200
37	36	Mexico	Division II B	360	360	360	500	360	420	1150	1	1290	1
38	39	Georgia	Division II B	380	380	320	400	280	0	1095	1	1060	1
39	40	New Zealand	Division II B	400	400	420	—	420	380	1015	1	1020	1
40	38	Bulgaria	Division II B	340	320	300	420	300	340	1015	2	1095
41	41	North Korea	Division III A	320	340	380	—	380	360	860		905
42	42	Turkey	Division III A	300	300	280	—	340	320	750		760	1
43	43	Luxembourg	Division III A	260	260	340	—	320	280	705		745	1
44	45	Chinese Taipei	Division III A	240	240	260	—	220	—	605	1	545	1
45	47	Turkmenistan	Division III A	280	280	200	—	—	—	590	2	430	2
46	44	South Africa	Division III B	200	220	240	—	240	300	545	2	595
47	48	United Arab Emirates	Division III A	220	200	160	—	200	—	500	1	420	1
48	46	Hong Kong	Division III B	180	180	220	—	260	240	490	2	535	1
49	49	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Division III B	140	140	180	—	0	260	335		340	1
50	51	Thailand	Division III B	160	160	—	—	—	—	280	1	160	new
51	50	Kuwait	Division IV	120	120	140	—	—	—	280	1	225
52	52	Kyrgyzstan	Division IV	100	100	—	—	—	—	175		100	new
53	—	Malaysia	Division IV	80	—	—	—	—	—	80	new	—	—
54	—	Philippines	Division IV	60	—	—	—	—	—	60	new	—	—

Women's rankings

The Women's 2019 ranking is based on the performance at the World Championships of 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016, and at the 2018 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics, Russia's Olympic Committee and many of its athletes were banned due to systemic illegal doping.[5] The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players[6] and the ice hockey team from the Russian hockey federation played under the banner of the International Olympic Committee as "Olympic Athletes from Russia", along with other Russian athletes not banned for doping.

Most of the 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 Divisions IA, IB, and IIA received points based on the previous year's results. Divisions IIB and III were completed and scored as scheduled.

The following table lists the ranking following the 2019 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships and the ranking for the 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. 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.

2020 Rank	2019 Rank	Team	WC division (as of 2020)	WC2020 (—) (100%)	WC2019 (100%) (75%)	WC2018 (75%) (50%)	OLY2018 (75%) (50%)	WC2017 (50%) (25%)	WC2016 (25%) (—)	2020 Total	+/−	2019 Total	+/−
1	1	United States	Championship	1200	1200	1200	1200	1200	1200	3600		3900
2	2	Canada	Championship	1160	1120	1160	1160	1160	1160	3450		3730
3	3	Finland	Championship	1120	1160	1120	1120	1120	1100	3390		3675
4	4	Russia	Championship	1100	1100	1100	1100	1060	1120	3290		3560
5	5	Switzerland	Championship	1060	1060	1060	1060	1020	1020	3170		3415
6	6	Japan	Championship	1040	1000	1040	1040	960	1000	3070		3290	1
7	8	Czech Republic	Championship	1020	1040	1000	960	1000	1040	3030	1	3270	1
8	9	Germany	Championship	1000	1020	980	940	1100	960	3000	1	3250	1
9	7	Sweden	Division I A	920	960	1020	1020	1040	1060	2920	2	3275	1
10	10	France	Division I A	900	940	960	920	860	940	2760		3015
11	11	Denmark	Championship	960	900	900	880	900	900	2750		2910	1
12	14	Hungary	Championship	940	920	920	820	880	840	2720	2	2875
13	13	Norway	Division I A	880	880	880	900	920	880	2660		2895
14	12	Austria	Division I A	860	860	940	860	940	920	2640	2	2910	1
15	15	Slovakia	Division I A	840	840	860	800	840	860	2510		2720
16	16	South Korea	Division I B	780	780	820	1000	720	700	2455		2680
17	17	Italy	Division I B	800	820	840	840	760	780	2445		2655
18	21	Netherlands	Division I A	820	800	720	720	700	740	2315	3	2415
19	20	China	Division I B	740	740	760	760	780	760	2250	1	2460
20	22	Poland	Division I B	760	760	740	700	740	720	2235	2	2390
21	19	Kazakhstan	Division I B	720	720	780	740	820	800	2225	2	2470
22	18	Latvia	Division II A	680	700	800	780	800	820	2195	4	2490
23	23	Great Britain	Division II A	660	660	700	660	680	680	2005	1	2190
24	24	Slovenia	Division I B	700	680	640	620	640	640	2000	1	2105
25	25	Spain	Division II A	640	640	600	680	580	580	1905		2035
26	26	Mexico	Division II A	620	620	620	640	600	540	1865		2000
27	27	Turkey	Division II B	500	500	520	600	520	500	1565		1725
28	28	North Korea	Division II A	600	600	680	—	660	660	1555		1605
29	29	Australia	Division II B	560	580	660	—	620	600	1480		1535	2
30	33	Chinese Taipei	Division II A	580	560	580	—	480	—	1410	3	1235	3
31	32	Iceland	Division II B	540	520	560	—	540	560	1345	1	1350	1
32	31	New Zealand	Division II B	520	540	540	—	560	520	1335	1	1355	1
33	30	Hong Kong	Division III	340	380	420	580	400	460	1225	3	1445	1
34	34	Romania	Division III	400	460	500	—	500	480	1120		1205	1
35	36	Croatia	Division II B	480	480	480	—	—	620	1080	1	995
36	37	Belgium	Division III	420	420	460	—	460	—	1080	1	995	1
37	35	South Africa	Division III	440	400	440	—	440	440	1070	2	1060	1
38	38	Bulgaria	Division III	380	360	400	—	420	420	955		975	3
39	39	Ukraine	Division II B	460	440	—	—	—	—	790		440	new
40	—	Lithuania	Division III	360	—	—	—	—	—	360	new	—	—

See also

• List of IIHF World Rankings

References

1. "IIHF – World Ranking". iihf.com. IIHF. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
2. Hockey Canada (30 September 2003). "IIHF Introduces World Ranking and Ranks Canada First in Men's and Women's Hockey". Retrieved 27 May 2019.
3. Edvinsson, Jan-Ake, ed. (November 2003). "News release–Hockey fans are the best in the world" (PDF). Ice Times. International Ice Hockey Federation. 7 (5): 7. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
4. "Olympic Winter Games". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
5. Ruiz, Rebecca R.; Panja, Tariq (5 December 2017). "Russia Banned From Winter Olympics by I.O.C." The New York Times.
6. Clinton, Jared (29 November 2017). "IIHF says complete ban of Russian Olympians would put 'health of hockey at risk'". The Hockey News.

External links

• World Ranking for the current year at IIHF.com
• World Rankings from 2007 to 2018 at IIHF.com