This is a list of IIHF World Rankings from its inception in 2003. 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 system was approved at the IIHF congress of September 2003. 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".
Seven nations have achieved a top ten ranking every time (including Olympic rankings) between 2003âÂÂ2023, they are (in order of average ranking): Canada, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, the United States, and Switzerland. An additional six nations, Slovakia (twenty-five times), Germany (nineteen times), Latvia (fifteen times), Belarus (nine times), Norway (eight times), and Denmark (twice) have been in the top ten at least once.
As of the 2024 IIHF World Championships, four countries have accomplished a first-place ranking: Canada fifteen times, Sweden six times, Russia four times, and Finland twice. Canada holds the record for highest cumulative point total in one ranking (4150 points in 2023), has the most consecutive first-place rankings (eight times between 2015 and 2021), and is the only nation to have achieved a top-five ranking every time.
Only six nations have achieved a top ten ranking every time between 2003âÂÂ2022. These nations are (in order of average ranking): Canada, the United States, Finland, Sweden, Russia, and Switzerland. An additional ten nations, Germany (twenty-two times), Japan (twenty-one times), Czech Republic (thirteen times), Kazakhstan (ten times), China (nine times), Slovakia (five times), France (three times), Denmark (three times), Norway (twice), Austria (twice), and Hungary (twice) have been in the top ten at least once.
As of 2022, only two countries have accomplished a first-place ranking: Canada thirteen times and the United States ten times. Canada, Finland and the United States are the only nations to have achieved a top-four ranking every time, with Canada and the United States never falling below a top-two ranking.
In December 2017, six Russian women hockey players were found to have committed doping violations at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The IOC disqualified the Russian team from the 2014 hockey tournament and the IIHF was requested to modify the results accordingly. The information in this historical section does not reflect any changes that the IIHF may make in the record.
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 divisions received points based on the previous year's ranking, while the remaining divisions received points based on the previous year's results, with the exception of the Women's Divisions IIB and III which were completed and scored as scheduled in 2020. 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 â taking into consideration the results in 2018, 2019 and 2020 â 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 (WADA) 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" (the full name "Russian Olympic Committee" could not be displayed), 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.