The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the national teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The system was approved by the IIHF congress in 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."

System

Both the men's and women's ranking systems are based on the standings of the most recent Winter Olympic Games and the four most recent IIHF World Championships. The world champion or Olympic gold medal winner is awarded 1200 points. In general there is a 20 point interval between two ranks, but there is a 40-point interval between position 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 4 and 5 and 8 and 9. The results of the most recent tournaments have a higher weight in the ranking. For example, in the 2009 men's ranking, The 2009 tournament has 100% points value, the 2008 has 75%, 2007 has 50% and 2006 has 25%. All championships before that are no longer counted. The Olympic tournament has the same value as the World Championship the same year. If several teams are equal on points, the position of most recent World Championship will decide the ranking of those teams.

Effects

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 the 2010 Winter Olympics the first nine teams of the Men's World Ranking and the first six of the Women's World Ranking can participate without qualification. Qualification for the the men's tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics was structured around the 2008 ranking. Twelve spots were made available for teams. The top nine teams in the World Ranking after the 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. Teams ranked 10th through 30th had an opportunity to qualify for the event. The women's tournament uses a similar qualification format. The top six teams in the IIHF Women's World Ranking after the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the ice hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 13th and below were divided into two groups where they played in a first qualification round in September 2008. The two group winners from the round advanced to the second qualification round, where the teams ranked seventh through twelfth joined them.

Men's rankings

2009

The Men's 2009 ranking is based on the performance at World Championship of 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 and at the 2006 Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament in Turin, Italy.

Rank	Team	Points before 2009	Points gained in 2009	Points 2009	Change +/−
1	(WC)	2000	1200	3200	+1
2		2000	1160	3160	−1
3	(OC)	1975	1120	3095	–
4		1990	1060	3050	–
5		1815	1100	2915	+1
6		1875	1040	2915	–1
7		1765	960	2725	–
8		1660	1000	2660	+1
9		1680	940	2620	–1
10		1590	1020	2610	+1
11		1625	920	2545	+1
12		1620	840	2460	−2
13		1565	880	2445	–
14		1440	900	2340	+4
15		1510	780	2290	−1
16		1425	860	2285	–
17		1430	760	2190	−2
18		1365	800	2165	+1
19		1395	740	2135	−2
20		1310	820	2130	–
21		1245	720	1965	+1
22		1260	680	1940	−1
23		1150	660	1810	–
24		1115	640	1755	–
25		995	700	1695	+4
26		1055	620	1675	–
27		1115	520	1635	−2
28		1025	580	1605	−1
29		950	460	1410	−1
30		835	560	1395	+1
31		785	600	1385	+2
32		825	540	1365	−2
33		755	500	1255	+1
34		685	480	1165	+2
35		740	420	1160	−3
36		690	380	1070	−1
37		590	440	1030	+1
38		625	400	1025	−1
39		530	320	850	–
40		450	340	790	+2
41		450	300	750	–
42		480	240	720	−2
43		345	360	705	+1
44		420	280	700	−1
45		295	220	515	–
46		180	260	440	–
47		160	-	160	-
48		150	–	150	–
49		70	–	70	–

2003–2008

Key

P	Points
R	Rank

Team	P-2003	R-2003	P-2004	R-2004	P-2005	R-2005	P-2006	R-2006	P-2007	R-2007	P-2008	R-2008
				45		45		45		45		48
	1080	36	1125	35	1195	34	1215	34	1260	33	1300	33
	2970	12	2755	11	2430	13	2930	16	2695	17	2445	16
	2955	13	2590	13	2430	12	3230	10	3025		2845
	1240	33	1345	33	1255	32	1200	35	1200	35	1230	34
												47
	1550	30	1375	32	1235	33	1715	30	1500	31	1305	32
	3685		3485		3220		3890		3670		3410
	1805	28	1630	28	1515	28	1970	28	1860	27	1650	28
	1545	31	1425	31	1390	30	2000	27	1850	28	1790	26
	3560		3225		3065		3985		3595		3265
	2665	14	2575	14	2400	14	3005	14	2855	12	2660	13
	2135	24	1995	24	1860	24	2325	24	2165	23	1930	25
	3525		3195		2865		3830		3640		3385
	2575	18	2400	18	2150	17	2720	19	2525	19	2410	18
	3240		2990		2580	10	3110	12	2925	11	2740	10
	2230	23	1990	25	1780	25	1580	31	1605	29	1645	29
												46
	2255	22	2060	22	1920	22	2430	22	2320	21	2220	20
		38		39		39		40		37		38
				44		44		44		43		40
	1110	35	1035	36	1140	35	1275	33	1260	34	1190	35
	2585	17	2315	19	2100	19	2915	17	2815	13	2580	14
	2605	15	2440	15	2090	20	2540	21	2305	22	2120	22
	2480	21	2410	17	2335	15	3115	11	2740	16	2405	19
	3060	10	2900	10	2675		3310		2995	10	2740	11
	1885	27	1720	27	1620	27	2270	25	2105	25	1970	23
		42		42		42		43		42		43
		39		41		43		39		38	1010	37
										46		45
	2135	25	2015	23	1885	23	2360	23	2155	24	1935	24
		40		40		38		38		39		39
		41		37	1105	36	1105	36		44		44
	2535	20	2265	21	2105	18	2935	15	2780	14	2735	12
	2550	19	2295	20	2085	21	2580	20	2395	20	2175	21
	1965	26	1845	26	1685	26	2135	26	1970	26	1770	27
	3480		3105		2905		3725		3535		3400
	1685	29	1565	29	1420	29	1745	29	1555	30	1425	30
	3480		3235		2965		3685		3390		2955
	2595	16	3235	16	2295	16	2870	18	2640	18	2460	15
		37		38		40		41		41		42
	1420	32	1455	30	1360	31	1320	32	1320	32	1365	31
	1230	34	1170	34	1090	37	1040	37	1090	36	1120	36
	3610		3400		3095		4095		3740		3400
	3135		2920		2715		3500		3250		3020
		43		43		41		42		40		41
	3010	11	2720	12	2490	11	3005	13	2740	15	2435	17
	3330		3145		2865		3580		3375		3105

Women's rankings

2009

Rank	Team	Points 2009	Change +/−
1		2960	+1
2		2930	-1
3		2785	0
4		2745	0
5		2630	0
6		2610	0
7		2485	+1
8		2475	+2
9		2465	0
10		2420	-3
11		2195	+3
12		2180	0
13		2170	-2
14		2135	-1
15		2040	+2
16		1980	-1
17		1875	+2
18		1775	+2
19		1760	-1
20		1645	+3
21		1645	0
22		1075	-6
23		890	-1
24		810	0
25		785	+5
26		785	-1
27		760	-1
28		690	-1
29		685	+2
30		685	-1
31		675	-3
32		650	0
33		600	0

2003–2008

Team	P-2003	R-2003	P-2004	R-2004	P-2005	R-2005	P-2006	R-2006	P-2007	R-2007	P-2008	R-2008
		22	1270	21	1375	22		23	1205	23	1405	22
				26	1375	25		21	1315	20	1580	19
		21	1175	22	1335	23		24	1160	24	1305	24
											780	34
	1800		3000		2960		2970		2980		2950
	1545		2565		2575		2485		2520		2510
										31	1095	30
		11	1590	11	1840	11	2010	12	2195	13	2205	12
		16	1455	16	1700	14	1070	17	1485	17	1650	18
										32		32
	1655		2775		2765		2760		2755		2770
		12	1540	13	1780	12	1995	14	2230	12	2220	11
	1565		2605		2625		2635		2585		2525
		20	1280	20	1425	20		22	1210	22	1385	23
		24	1165	23	1320	24		25	1135	25	1265	25
						30		30		30	1090	31
		18	1385	17	1610	17	2015	11	2160	14	2065	15
	1425	10	2405	10	2380	10	2350	10	2345	10	2420
	1490		2430		2475		2445		2445		2410	10
		15	1545	12	1750	13	1995	13	2250	11	2195	13
		19	1330	19	1505	19		20	1300	21	1480	21
						29		29		29	1110	27
		13	1490	15	1635	16	1005	18	1380	19	1560	20
		14	1510	14	1695	15	1900	15	2145	15	2150	14
		25		25	1185	26		27		27	1100	29
	1620		2680		2605		2585		2565		2575
		17	1375	18	1585	18		19	1415	18	1735	17
		26		24	1385	21	1700	16	1865	16	1810	16
				28		28		28		28	1105	28
				27	1050	27		26	1070	26	1215	26
	1625		2725		2760		2830		2890		2760
	1435		2435		2430		2480		2555		2645
										33		33
	1740		2900		2940		2890		2825		2930

References

General:

• 2003 ranking:
• 2004 ranking:
• 2005 ranking:
• 2006
  • Men's ranking:
  • Women's ranking:
• 2007
  • Men's ranking:
  • Women's ranking:
• 2008
  • Men's ranking:
  • Women's ranking:
• 2009
  • Men's ranking:
  • Women's ranking:

Specific:

External links

• World Ranking at IIHF.com