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. 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.

Description

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".
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.

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.
Place1234567891011121314151617181920...
Points12001160112011001060104010201000960940920900880860840820800780760740...

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 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:

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. The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players, 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
TeamWC division
WC2020
WC2019
WC2018
OLY2018
WC2017
WC2016
2020
Total
+/−2019
Total
+/−
1112001160110011201160120034703705
2211601120104012001120112034003640
3311201200106010401100116033453615
4411001060120010601200104033253615
5510601100102011001020106032003465
6610401020112010201060110031403430
771020104092011601000102030903355
88100010001160940104092030603325
9996096096092086096028353040
1010940940100086094088028103025
1111920900880100092094027653005
1212900920940800900100026852925
131488078084088088090025452735
141380084090084096086025402840
151686086078076082078024802620
161984080076082076082024202570
171578082086078080074024152635
181776076082090078072023852620
192082088080066068066023802480
201874074072096084080023452620
212172072074070072084021602370
222266066070074074076020602300
232468070068056064064019852110
242364064066072066070019752180
252770068060058056058019401990
262560060062068070068018752095
272662062064060062060018602010
282856058056064058056017401910
292954054058062060062016951895
303058056052054052050016601740
313150050044052046054014701585
323248048050044044046014201520
333342042046048048048013251485
343446044040046040040013201385
353552052054054044013151305
363744046048050052011501200
373636036036050036042011501290
3839380380320400280010951060
394040040042042038010151020
403834032030042030034010151095
4141320340380380360860905
4242300300280340320750760
4343260260340320280705745
4445240240260220605545
4547280280200590430
4644200220240240300545595
4748220200160200500420
4846180180220260240490535
49491401401800260335340
5051160160280160
5150120120140280225
5252100100175100
538080'
546060'

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. The IIHF opposed an outright ban on all Russian players 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
TeamWC division
WC2020
WC2019
WC2018
OLY2018
WC2017
WC2016
2020
Total
+/−2019
Total
+/−
1112001200120012001200120036003900
2211601120116011601160116034503730
3311201160112011201120110033903675
4411001100110011001060112032903560
5510601060106010601020102031703415
661040100010401040960100030703290
781020104010009601000104030303270
8910001020980940110096030003250
97920960102010201040106029203275
101090094096092086094027603015
111196090090088090090027502910
121494092092082088084027202875
131388088088090092088026602895
141286086094086094092026402910
151584084086080084086025102720
1616780780820100072070024552680
171780082084084076078024452655
182182080072072070074023152415
192074074076076078076022502460
202276076074070074072022352390
211972072078074082080022252470
221868070080078080082021952490
232366066070066068068020052190
242470068064062064064020002105
252564064060068058058019052035
262662062062064060054018652000
272750050052060052050015651725
282860060068066066015551605
292956058066062060014801535
303358056058048014101235
313254052056054056013451350
323152054054056052013351355
333034038042058040046012251445
343440046050050048011201205
35364804804806201080995
36374204204604601080995
373544040044044044010701060
3838380360400420420955975
3939460440790440
40360360