Olympic Winter Games
Recent Olympic Winter Games
Click on the links below for the ice hockey websites of the most recent Olympic Winter Games:Groups & Qualification Men
The men’s Olympic tournament will consist of 12 teams. The first team to qualify is Italy, as host nation. The next eight teams qualified based on their World Ranking following the 2023 Men’s World Championship: Canada (1), Finland (2), Russia (3), United States (4), Germany (5), Sweden (6), Switzerland (7), Czechia (8).The final three spots will be assigned after a series of four rounds of qualification play. Round 1 was scheduled for November 2023 but was subsequently cancelled.
The Olympic tournament will follow the same format as the previous four Olympic Winter Games. Three groups of four teams will play a round-robin series of three games each, after which the top four teams will advance directly to the quarter-finals (the three group winners as well as the second-ranked team with the best record). The other eight teams will be re-seeded and play a qualification round, the four winners also advancing to the quarter-finals.
These eight teams will be re-seeded to determine quarter-finals matchups. The winners advance to the semi-finals while the losers go home. Then, the semi-finals winners play for the gold medal with the semi-finals losers play for the bronze medal.
Olympic Winter Games, Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
06 - 22 February 2026 Milano, ITA| Group A | Group B | Group C |
| Canada | Finland | Russia * |
| Sweden | Germany | United States |
| Switzerland | Czechia | Q1 |
| Italy | Q3 | Q2 |
* Theoretic seeding position if decision is made that team returns to the IIHF championship program
Final Olympic Qualification
29 August - 1 September 2024| Group D | Group E | Group F |
| (in Bratislava/SVK) | (in Riga/LAT) | (in Aalborg/DEN) |
| Slovakia | Latvia | Denmark |
| Kazakhstan | France | Norway |
| Austria | Slovenia | Great Britain |
| Hungary | Ukraine | Japan |
IMPORTANT:
On Monday 12 February 2024 the IIHF Council reviewed the current safety risks associated with reincorporating the Russian and the Belarusian National and Club Teams into IIHF Competitions. Based on a thorough analysis, the IIHF Council concluded that it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian Teams back into IIHF Competitions. Therefore, Russia and Belarus will not participate in the 2024/2025 IIHF championship season. This decision will also apply to the Belarusian team regarding the Final Olympic Qualification Round that will be played in August 2024.
As a result, Belarus was removed from Group D of the Final Olympic Qualification and - in line with the decision taken by the IIHF SAC in Portugal - Hungary, the highest ranked 2nd placed team from the combined ranking of Round 3 will take the place of QF4 for the Final Olympic Qualification. The groups was then reseeded accordingly.
Olympic Qualification Round 3
8 - 11 February 2024| Group G | Group H | Group J |
| (in Budapest/HUN) | (in Cardiff/GBR) | (in Sosnoviec/POL) |
| Hungary | Great Britain | Korea |
| Lithuania | Romania | Poland |
| Japan | China | Ukraine |
| Spain | Serbia | Estonia |
Olympic Qualification Round 1 (Cancelled)
8 - 12 November 2023| Group N | Group O | |
| Chinese Taipei | ||
| Thailand | ||
| Kuwait | South Africa | |
| Georgia | Iran |