Men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2025: Full Schedule, Fixtures, Groups, Key Players and How to Watch

The Men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2025 is expected to be one of the most exciting competitions in international hockey history. This flagship tournament will feature the top national teams competing for world dominance in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark, from May 9 to May 25, 2025.

The 2025 IIHF World Championship will be co-hosted by Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark, from May 9 to 25. This decision on Sweden was made during the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) semi-annual congress in Malta in 2018. It was officially announced at the IIHF’s annual congress on May 24, 2019, during the World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The 89th edition of the championship, which is organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), will include elite players, fervent spectators, and events that will never be forgotten. The 2025 IIHF World Championship is expected to captivate hockey fans everywhere and usher in a new era in the history of the sport, featuring both well-known rivalries and up-and-coming talents.

Will Team Canada win a record-breaking 29th men’s ice hockey world title at the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with “Captain Canada” on their roster?

This year’s event, which takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Herning, Denmark, from May 9–25, 2025, is headlined by Sidney Crosby’s first World Championship appearance in a decade.

The final world champions will help establish which national teams are in top form ahead of MiCo at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, where National Hockey League (NHL) players are expected to compete for the first time since 2014.

Canada, the NHL 4 Nations champions, competed against the United States, Sweden, and Finland before to entering the event.

2025 Men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: Players to Watch

Players from the National Hockey League can only compete at the World Championships if their team is not currently competing in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. Team Canada is making the most of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ postseason absence by calling up “Captain Canada,” Sidney Crosby, for the first time in a decade.

Crosby’s last World Championship appearance was in 2015, when he led Canada to victory. It is expected that Nathan MacKinnon, an NHL player-voted MVP and a finalist for this year’s Ted Lindsay Award, would join him on the team.

MacKinnon hasn’t played for a Worlds squad since 2017, and his Colorado Avalanche lost their first-round playoff series to the Dallas Stars in seven games. MacKinnon would join Team Canada, according to his agency.

Canada is a clear favorite to win the world championship again after losing it in 2023, especially with those two NHL stars on its side.

While Team USA has called up a variety of young college prospects and NHL regulars, defenseman Brady Skjei, a 31-year-old blueliner for the Nashville Predators, is the oldest player of the U.S. team this season.

With his Kraken teammate Matty Beniers, who was last on the Team USA squad for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, also picked up, Joey Daccord of the Seattle Kraken should be a reliable goalkeeper for the United States.

The son of Canadian legend Shane Doan, Utah HC forward Josh Doan, is also named on the U.S. team.

Co-hosts Sweden has access to players like Adam Larsson, a 14-season NHL veteran, Marcus Pettersson, a defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, and Mika Zibanejad, a forward for the New York Rangers.

2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: Groups and Format

The 16 teams will meet off once in the group stage, divided into two groups of eight. Group B will perform at Herning’s Jyske Bank Boxen, while Group A will compete at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena. The World Championships have been held at both venues before: Herning in 2018 and Stockholm in 1989, 1995, 2012, and 2013.

Group A: Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden, Slovenia
Group B: Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Norway, Switzerland, USA

The top four teams from each group advance to the cross-group quarterfinals, where the top-ranked team from each group will play the fourth-ranked club from the other group, while the second-place team will face the third-place team from the other group. Following the quarterfinals, the semi-finalists’ final four games will be determined by reseeding based on their group stage performance.

The semi-finals and medal matches will be held in Stockholm, with each host city hosting two quarterfinals in addition to their group stage matches.

Next year, the two teams with the lowest final rankings will compete in Division I Group A after being eliminated from the top division of the World Championship. In 2026, Italy and Great Britain, who were both promoted from Division I A in 2025, will assume their respective positions.

In the group stage, a regulation win will earn three points, a victory in overtime or a penalty-shot shootout will earn two points, a defeat in overtime or a shootout will earn one point, and a regulation loss will result in no points. If teams are tied on points, they will use their head-to-head records as a tiebreaker.

The teams will play a five-minute sudden-death three-on-three overtime if they are tied after 60 minutes. Overtime will last 10 minutes in the quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze medal playoffs, and placement playoffs. If the game is tied at the end of overtime in any of these cases, a penalty shootout will be held.

Until a winning golden goal is achieved, the gold medal game will feature 20-minute additional periods.

2025 Men’s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship: Match Schedule

The 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will attract people all around the world between May 9 and May 25. The tournament’s 16 national teams are divided into two groups and play multiple games before the playoffs and medal games.

All times Central European Standard Time (UTC +2 hours; North American Eastern time +6 hours). Groups noted in parentheses.

Group A – Stockholm (Avicii Arena)

9 May: Austria vs. Finland (16:20), Sweden vs. Slovakia (20:20)

10 May: Slovenia vs. Canada (12:20), Sweden vs. Austria (16:20), France vs. Latvia (20:20)

11 May: Slovakia vs. Slovenia (12:20), Latvia vs. Canada (16:20), Finland vs. France (20:20)

12 May: Austria vs. Slovakia (16:20), Finland vs. Sweden (20:20)

13 May: Slovenia vs. Latvia (16:20), Canada vs. France (20:20)

14 May: Slovakia vs. France (16:20), Latvia vs. Sweden (20:20)

15 May: Finland vs. Slovenia (16:20), Canada vs. Austria (20:20)

16 May: Austria vs. France (16:20), Sweden vs. Slovenia (20:20)

17 May: Finland vs. Latvia (12:20), France vs. Sweden (16:20), Canada vs. Slovakia (20:20)

18 May: Slovenia vs. Austria (16:20), Slovakia vs. Latvia (20:20)

19 May: France vs. Slovenia (16:20), Canada vs. Finland (20:20)

20 May: Latvia vs. Austria (12:20), Slovakia vs. Finland (16:20), Sweden vs. Canada (20:20)

Group B – Herning (Jyske Bank Boxen)

9 May: Switzerland vs. Czechia (16:20), Denmark vs. USA (20:20)

10 May: Norway vs. Kazakhstan (12:20), Germany vs. Hungary (16:20), Denmark vs. Switzerland (20:20)

11 May: USA vs. Hungary (12:20), Germany vs. Kazakhstan (16:20), Norway vs. Czechia (20:20)

12 May: USA vs. Switzerland (16:20), Czechia vs. Denmark (20:20)

13 May: Norway vs. Germany (16:20), Kazakhstan vs. Hungary (20:20)

14 May: USA vs. Norway (16:20), Kazakhstan vs. Denmark (20:20)

15 May: Switzerland vs. Germany (16:20), Czechia vs. Hungary (20:20)

16 May: Hungary vs. Denmark (16:20), Switzerland vs. Norway (20:20)

17 May: USA vs. Germany (12:20), Czechia vs. Kazakhstan (16:20), Denmark vs. Norway (20:20)

18 May: Kazakhstan vs. USA (16:20), Hungary vs. Switzerland (20:20)

19 May: Germany vs. Czechia (16:20), Hungary vs. Norway (20:20)

20 May: Switzerland vs. Kazakhstan (12:20), Czechia vs. USA (16:20), Germany vs. Denmark (20:20)

Playoffs – Stockholm (Avicii Arena)

22 May: Quarterfinals (16:20 & 20:20)

24 May: Semifinals (14:20 & 18:20)

25 May: Bronze Medal Game (15:20), Gold Medal Game (20:20)

How to watch games from the 2025 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship

The IIHF and the media partners of its member federations will broadcast live games from the men’s 2025 Ice Hockey World Championship.

NHL Network will broadcast the games in the US, while TSN in English and RDS in French will broadcast them in Canada.

The IIHF’s own IIHF TV portal offers both live and on-demand streaming of the tournament around the world. There can be restrictions.