After having won gold at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, Canada moves up to first place in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking overtaking second-ranked Finland. Great Britain are ranked #20 after winning Gold at the Divisioon 1A Tournament in Nottingham earlier in the month.
The IIHF World Ranking takes into consideration the performances during the past four years at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and the Olympic Winter Games, and is calculated on an annual basis to determine the seedings of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the Olympic ice hockey tournaments and qualification.
Russia and the United States remain in third and fourth place respectively while Germany is the big winner among the top nations. After having earned the silver medals at the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the Germans improve from ninth to fifth place. Since the introduction of the IIHF World Ranking in 2004, the Germans have never ranked higher than fifth place, which they also held in 2021.
Sweden drops down one place to sixth while Switzerland remains seventh. Czechia lost two spots and comes in eighth place, the country’s lowest IIHF Men’s World Ranking position ever. Slovakia goes down one position to ninth while bronze medallist Latvia climbs up by one position to complete the top-10 at the expense of Denmark.
The 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking includes a record number of 58 countries following the return of Mongolia and the first-time participation of Indonesia. Scroll down for the full ranking.
Canada also leads IIHF Women’s World Ranking
Canada does not only lead in men’s but also in women’s ice hockey. Despite the loss in the recent 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship gold medal game to the United States, Canada defends first place but the point margin to the United States has decreased.
It’s the first time since 2015 that Canada, or any nation, has led both the Men’s and Women’s World Ranking in the same year.
Switzerland moves up to third place at the expense of Finland while Czechia comes in fifth place swapping positions with Russia. It’s the highest position ever for the Czechs, who became historic back to back bronze medal winners last month.
Since the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship program hasn’t been completed yet – the Division I Group A in Shenzhen, China will take place from 20 to 26 August – the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Ranking hasn’t been released yet. However, the top-10 countries of the ranking have already become known:
| 1 | CANADA | 4250 |
| 2 | USA | 4220 |
| 3 | SWITZERLAND | 3965 |
| 4 | FINLAND | 3920 |
| 5 | CZECHIA | 3890 |
| 6 | RUSSIA | 3885 |
| 7 | JAPAN | 3775 |
| 8 | SWEDEN | 3665 |
| 9 | GERMANY | 3515 |
| 10 | HUNGARY | 3515 |
Tentative groups for 2024
With the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking established, the tentative groups for the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia have been created. The groups are tentative and minor changes for organizational reasons may apply. The final groups and the game schedule will be announced during the upcoming months.
| GROUP A – Ostrava | GROUP B – Prague |
| Canada | Finland |
| Germany | USA |
| Sweden | Switzerland |
| Slovakia | Czechia |
| Latvia | Denmark |
| France | Norway |
| Kazakhstan | Austria |
| Poland | Great Britain |
Provisional data. Subject to changes.
The 2023 IIHF Men’s World Ranking
The rankings for Men and Women in the World Rankings section of the iihf.com web site will be updated in the next few days.
| 1 | Canada | 4150 |
| 2 | Finland | 4080 |
| 3 | Russia | 4050 |
| 4 | USA | 3940 |
| 5 | Germany | 3835 |
| 6 | Sweden | 3800 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 3775 |
| 8 | Czechia | 3735 |
| 9 | Slovakia | 3690 |
| 10 | Latvia | 3610 |
| 11 | Denmark | 3500 |
| 12 | Norway | 3270 |
| 13 | France | 3240 |
| 14 | Belarus | 3175 |
| 15 | Kazakhstan | 3170 |
| 16 | Austria | 3135 |
| 17 | Slovenia | 2990 |
| 18 | Italy | 2970 |
| 19 | Hungary | 2950 |
| 20 | Great Britain | 2945 |
| 21 | Korea | 2805 |
| 22 | Poland | 2790 |
| 23 | Romania | 2645 |
| 24 | Lithuania | 2630 |
| 25 | Japan | 2580 |
| 26 | China | 2535 |
| 27 | Ukraine | 2470 |
| 28 | Estonia | 2400 |
| 29 | Netherlands | 2285 |
| 30 | Serbia | 2245 |
| 31 | Croatia | 2170 |
| 32 | Spain | 2140 |
| 33 | Israel | 1950 |
| 34 | Iceland | 1925 |
| 35 | Australia | 1710 |
| 36 | Bulgaria | 1655 |
| 37 | Mexico | 1600 |
| 38 | Türkiye | 1585 |
| 39 | United Arab Emirates | 1505 |
| 40 | Belgium | 1470 |
| 41 | Chinese Taipei | 1455 |
| 42 | New Zealand | 1390 |
| 43 | Luxembourg | 1280 |
| 44 | Thailand | 1190 |
| 45 | Turkmenistan | 1140 |
| 46 | Kyrgyzstan | 1095 |
| 47 | Hong Kong, China | 1070 |
| 48 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | 1040 |
| 49 | South Africa | 1020 |
| 50 | Kuwait | 770 |
| 51 | Singapore | 650 |
| 52 | Malaysia | 635 |
| 53 | Georgia | 630 |
| 54 | Iran | 625 |
| 55 | Philippines | 600 |
| 56 | DPR Korea | 510 |
| 57 | Mongolia | 460 |
| 58 | Indonesia | 420 |