The 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship will be the 25th edition of the Top Division of the Women's Ice Hockey World Championship organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The tournament will be contested in Herning and Esbjerg, Denmark from 6 to 16 November 2026.
Host selection The following two countries chose to bid:
Due to scheduling issues, the hosts announcement was delayed to October 2025. On 3 October 2025, Denmark was awarded the hosting rights at the Semi Annual Congress in Nice, with Herning and a then-unknown second city hosting the tournament, later announced to be Esbjerg. This marks Denmark's second time hosting after 2022.
Participants Ten teams will take part in the competition for the seventh time. Hungary and Norway were immediately relegated back to Division I after only appearing in the 2025 edition. They will be replaced by Division I champions Austria, who will make their debut in the top division, and runners-up, Denmark, who secured their immediate promotion back to the top division. Denmark would later be awarded the hosting rights as well. Qualification Host Dates Vacancies Qualified Top eight in 2025 České Budějovice 9–20 April 2025 8 Promoted from Division I Shenzhen 13–19 April 2025 2 (H)
Summary of qualified teams TeamQualification methodAppearance(s)Previous best performancehttps://web.archive.org/web/20251004152526/https://www.iihf.com/en/static/68779/iihf_world_rankings_women First in 2025 1990 2025 25 1 Second in 2025 25 2 Third in 2025 25 3 Fourth in 2025 2012 9 4 Fifth in 2025 1990 16 5 Sixth in 2025 5 6 Seventh in 2025 7 7 Eighth in 2025 8 8 Top two in Division I 1st 13 2021 2024 1 10
Groups composition The serpentine system was used to organise the groups (rankings in brackets).
Group A (1) (4) (5) (8) (9)
Group B (2) (3) (6) (7) (10)
Venue Two venues will be used for the tournament. When Denmark was awarded the hosting rights, it was announced that Herning and an unknown second city would host the tournament. That city would be Esbjerg, as they were announced as the secondary host on 22 December 2025, with the Granly Hockey Arena as the venue.https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/ww/news/72449/iihf_women_s_world_championships_2026_heads_to_(1)
Herning had previously hosted the 2022 edition while also hosting the men's edition in 2018 and 2025.
Overview of venues The KVIK Hockey Arena in Herning is the main venue for the tournament, similar to 2022. The arena was built in 1987, but was renovated in 2018 as it was used as a training facility for the 2018 IIHF World Championship. The venue hosts Herning Blue Fox in the Danish league.
The Granly Hockey Arena in Esbjerg is the secondary venue for the competition. The facility organised the 2011 World Women's Curling Championship and the 2015 European Curling Championships. The venue was built in 1974 and is home to Esbjerg Energy.
+Tournament venues information Venue KVIK Hockey Arena Group B, Relegation game, Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Final 17 Granly Hockey Arena Group A, Quarterfinals 12
Venues in Herning Esbjerg KVIK Hockey Arena Granly Hockey Arena Capacity: 4,120 Capacity: 4,200
Format The teams were split into two groups, using the serpentine system. The top four teams will advance to the knockout phase, while the bottom teams will play the relegation playoff. During the knockout stage, there will be a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.
Match officials Twelve referees and twelve linesmen were selected for the tournament.
Referees Linesmen Jennifer Berezowski Amy Martin Shauna Neary Anniina Nurmi Tijana Haack Veronica Lovensnö Anna Hammar Anneke Orlandini Michaela Bahl Sydney Harris Shannon Motzko Laura Schmidlein Alannah Beres Stéphanie Gagnon Sophie Thomson Kristýna Hájková Alexia Cheyroux Leonie Ernst Lara Fischer Natalia Suchanek Jessica Lundgren Kathryn Glover Erika Greenen Ashley Johnston
Rosters
Preliminary round The groups were based on the final rankings from the previous tournament.
All times are local (UTC+1).
Group A
Group B
Relegation playoff
Knockout stage There will be a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.
Qualified teams' seedings Quarter-finalists are paired according to their positions in the groups: the first-place team in each preliminary-round group plays the fourth-place team of the other group, while the second-place team plays the third-place team of the other group.
Semi-finalists are paired according to their seeding after the preliminary round, which is determined by the following criteria. The best-ranked semi-finalist plays against the lowest-ranked semi-finalist, while the second-best ranked semi-finalist plays the third-best ranked semi-finalist.
Rank Team TBD A 1 TBD B 1 TBD A 2 TBD B 2 TBD A 3 TBD B 3 TBD A 4 TBD B 4 Classification rules: 1)position in the group; 2)number of points; 3)goal difference; 4)number of goals scored for; 5)seeding number entering the tournament.
Bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Third place game
Final
Final standings
Notes
References
External links Tournament official website