The best two teams at the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship are also the best two teams in the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Ranking. New world champion Canada defended first place while silver medallist Finland overtook Russia for second place.
The United States and Germany both went up two spots and come in fourth and fifth place respectively. For Germany it’s the highest placement since the introduction of the World Ranking that takes into consideration the results for the World Championships and Olympics of the last four years.
The Czech Republic (6th) lost one spot while Sweden moved down from fourth to seventh place.
The places 8-12 are taken in the same order as before by Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway and Denmark.
Kazakhstan (13th) and Great Britain (16th) both moved up three spots at the expense of other teams in this region of the ranking following their performance in Riga.
For many teams outside of the top division there haven’t been IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship tournaments for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused tournament cancellations. 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.
The same rule will also be applied for the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Ranking that will be determined with the conclusion of the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Calgary, Canada.
2021 IIHF Men’s World Ranking
| Rank | Country | Points | Movement |
| 1 | Canada | 3235 | 0 |
| 2 | Finland | 3125 | 1 |
| 3 | Russia | 3050 | -1 |
| 4 | USA | 2945 | 2 |
| 5 | Germany | 2905 | 2 |
| 6 | Czech Republic | 2895 | -1 |
| 7 | Sweden | 2880 | -3 |
| 8 | Switzerland | 2815 | 0 |
| 9 | Slovakia | 2670 | 0 |
| 10 | Latvia | 2560 | 0 |
| 11 | Norway | 2490 | 0 |
| 12 | Denmark | 2470 | 0 |
| 13 | Kazakhstan | 2365 | 3 |
| 14 | Belarus | 2320 | -1 |
| 15 | France | 2295 | -1 |
| 16 | Great Britain | 2280 | 3 |
| 17 | Italy | 2280 | -2 |
| 18 | Austria | 2185 | -1 |
| 19 | Korea | 2140 | -1 |
| 20 | Slovenia | 2085 | 0 |
| 21 | Hungary | 1980 | 0 |
| 22 | Poland | 1885 | 0 |
| 23 | Lithuania | 1850 | 0 |
| 24 | Romania | 1820 | 1 |
| 25 | Japan | 1785 | -1 |
| 26 | Estonia | 1705 | 1 |
| 27 | Ukraine | 1675 | -1 |
| 28 | Netherlands | 1590 | 0 |
| 29 | Serbia | 1540 | 1 |
| 30 | Croatia | 1515 | -1 |
| 31 | Spain | 1385 | 0 |
| 32 | China | 1335 | 0 |
| 33 | Australia | 1265 | 2 |
| 34 | Israel | 1240 | 0 |
| 35 | Iceland | 1200 | -2 |
| 36 | Belgium | 1100 | 0 |
| 37 | Mexico | 1065 | 0 |
| 38 | Georgia | 1035 | 0 |
| 39 | New Zealand | 965 | 0 |
| 40 | Bulgaria | 935 | 0 |
| 41 | DPR Korea | 825 | 0 |
| 42 | Turkey | 745 | 0 |
| 43 | Luxembourg | 690 | 0 |
| 44 | Turkmenistan | 660 | 1 |
| 45 | Chinese Taipei | 605 | -1 |
| 46 | South Africa | 540 | 0 |
| 47 | United Arab Emirates | 505 | 0 |
| 48 | Hong Kong, China | 460 | 0 |
| 49 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | 380 | 0 |
| 50 | Thailand | 340 | 0 |
| 51 | Kuwait | 305 | 0 |
| 52 | Kyrgyzstan | 225 | 0 |
| 53 | Malaysia | 140 | 0 |
| 54 | Philippines | 105 | 0 |
| 55 | Singapore | 40 | NEW |