Canada leads World Ranking
by Martin Merk|26 MAY 2019
Canada's Kyle Turris (#19) and teammates look on during the national anthem following the 5-1 semi-final win against the Czechs.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
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With the end of the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the International Ice Hockey Federation has released the new 2019 IIHF Men’s World Ranking.

Silver-medallist Canada finished the Worlds better than its closest rivals in the previous ranking and thus defended first place in the 2019 edition of the Men’s World Ranking.

Bronze medallist Russia moved up from third to second place and new World Champion Finland from fifth to third. The gold-medal win means the Finns overtook Sweden in the last moment and have now the same number of points as their neighbours but the placement at this year’s Worlds serves as tie-breaker in Finland’s favour. Sweden lost two spots and is now fourth.

The Czech Republic also moved up one place and is now fifth while the United States fell from fourth to sixth place. For the third consecutive time Germany and Switzerland swapped places. Germany is now seventh, Switzerland follows in eighth place.

The top-8 countries of the 2019 IIHF Men’s World Ranking are automatically qualified for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament while the others have to go through the qualification tournaments that begin in half a year (see previews news).

Slovakia (9th) and Latvia (10th) moved up one spot while Norway dropped two places and is now 11th. These three countries earned the right to host the three Final Olympic Qualification tournaments.

Other nations that moved up big are Italy and Great Britain. It was the first time since 2006 that both promoted teams managed to stay in the top division. Italy moved up three spots to 16th – its best ranking since 2010. Great Britain moved up to places and is now 20th.

The Men’s World Ranking now includes a record number of 52 countries that have competed with a men’s national team in the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program during the past four years.

The 2019 IIHF Women’s World Ranking was already published in April. Click here to see both World Rankings.

Note: The 2019 IIHF Men’s World Ranking will also be used as base to determine the seeding for the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Switzerland. Following organizational meetings, the groups will be announced on Tuesday.

2019 IIHF Men's World Ranking

Rank Country Points Movement
1 Canada 3705 0
2 Russia 3640 +1
3 Finland 3615 +2
4 Sweden 3615 -2
5 Czech Republic 3465 +1
6 USA 3430 -2
7 Germany 3355 +1
8 Switzerland 3325 -1
9 Slovakia 3040 +1
10 Latvia 3025 +1
11 Norway 3005 -2
12 Denmark 2925 0
13 France 2840 0
14 Belarus 2735 0
15 Austria 2635 +2
16 Italy 2620 +3
17 Korea 2620 -1
18 Slovenia 2620 -3
19 Kazakhstan 2570 -1
20 Great Britain 2480 +2
21 Hungary 2370 -1
22 Poland 2300 -1
23 Japan 2180 0
24 Lithuania 2110 +1
25 Ukraine 2095 -1
26 Estonia 2010 0
27 Romania 1990 +2
28 Netherlands 1910 0
29 Croatia 1895 -2
30 Serbia 1740 0
31 Spain 1585 0
32 China 1520 +1
33 Iceland 1485 -1
34 Israel 1385 0
35 Australia 1305 +1
36 Mexico 1290 -1
37 Belgium 1200 0
38 Bulgaria 1095 0
39 Georgia 1060 +1
40 New Zealand 1020 -1
41 DPR Korea 905 0
42 Turkey 760 +1
43 Luxembourg 745 -1
44 South Africa 595 0
45 Chinese Taipei 545 +1
46 Hong Kong 535 -1
47 Turkmenistan 430 +2
48 United Arab Emirates 420 -1
49 Bosnia & Herzegovina 340 -1
50 Kuwait 225 0
51 Thailand 160 NEW
52 Kyrgyzstan 100 NEW