The composition of the World Championships in hockey 2026. What rivals has Slovakia?
Stockholm. Slovak hockey representatives should meet with the world champions from the US, Sweden and the Czech Republic at next year’s World Championship in Swiss towns Zurich and Friborg.
This was decided by the final ranking of the teams at the end of the World Championship in Stockholm and Herning and their position in the ranking of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF).
The division of teams into the World Championships is based on the current IIHF ranking, which takes into account the results of the past five major tournaments (MS and Winter Olympics), with the greatest weight being the freshly finished world championship.
The Slovaks occupied 11. The IIHF ranking fell with 3595 points from nine to ten.
They were overtaken by the Danes, who, thanks to the semifinal participation, jumped two places up. However, the exclusion of Russia from the World Championship, which, after the freezing of its position, reached the forefront of renking, moves the Slovaks to the ninth place.
The Russians and Belarusians will not present themselves at the World Championship 2026, which was decided by the IIHF Council in February. Both countries are removed from IIHF tournaments during the 2025/2026 season for a military invasion in Ukraine.
Groups are compiled according to the predetermined deployment key. In the A-group teams from ranking 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 16, the B-group teams travel from 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 and 15.
Slovak representatives should play at the World Championship 2026 in the A-Group, where they should be in addition to new leaders of the ranking and fresh world champions of Americans, bronze medalists from the World Championship 2025 Swedes and rivals from the Czech Republic to wait for fights with Denmark, Norway, Slovenia and the newcomer of the elite category Italy.
However, the organizer has the right to replace two teams and decide in which group the home team will play.
The Swiss has not yet determined whether the A-group will play in Zurich or Friborg.
