The Olympic champions move to top spot in the March edition of the 2022 IIHF World Rankings. Finland overtakes Canada in the Men’s World Ranking while Canada replaces the United States in the Women’s World Ranking.
In the new edition of the rankings based on the performance of the last four years, the points earned at the 2018 Olympics were replaced with the points from the 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the Olympic Qualification tournaments for Beijing 2022, which caused some movement.
On the men’s side Russia and USA remain in third and fourth place while Sweden and Switzerland moved up two spots coming fifth and sixth. For Switzerland this is the highest position ever in the Men’s World Ranking. The top-8 are completed by Czechia and Slovakia. Germany, the silver medallist back in 2018, lost four positions and is now ninth.
Denmark, which for the first time qualified for both the men’s and women’s Olympic ice hockey tournaments and reached the quarter-finals, moved up two positions to tenth place.
In the Women’s World Ranking the United States lost the top spot after having been first-ranked for six consecutive years. Canada is now on top after winning the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship and the 2022 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament.
Finland remains a stable third – a position the Finnish women’s team has held since 2015. The Swiss women move up to fourth place for the first time since 2015 at the expense of Russia. Japan and Czechia remain in sixth and seventh place while Sweden moved up to eight at the expense of Germany. Thanks to qualifying for the Olympics, Denmark took tenth place from Hungary. China, which finished played at the Olympics for the first time since 2010 and finished ninth out of ten, moved up three spots to 17th.
The next World Rankings will be published later this year once all men’s and women’s tournaments of the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program will be completed.
Click here for more information on the IIHF World Ranking.
2022 IIHF World Rankings (March edition)
| Rank | Men | Women |
| 1 | Finland | Canada |
| 2 | Canada | USA |
| 3 | Russia | Finland |
| 4 | USA | Switzerland |
| 5 | Sweden | Russia |
| 6 | Switzerland | Japan |
| 7 | Czechia | Czechia |
| 8 | Slovakia | Sweden |
| 9 | Germany | Germany |
| 10 | Denmark | Denmark |
| 11 | Latvia | Hungary |
| 12 | Norway | France |
| 13 | France | Austria |
| 14 | Belarus | Norway |
| 15 | Kazakhstan | Slovakia |
| 16 | Italy | Italy |
| 17 | Austria | China |
| 18 | Great Britain | Korea |
| 19 | Slovenia | Netherlands |
| 20 | Korea | Poland |
| 21 | Hungary | Kazakhstan |
| 22 | Poland | Slovenia |
| 23 | Romania | Great Britain |
| 24 | Lithuania | Spain |
| 25 | Japan | Mexico |
| 26 | Estonia | Chinese Taipei |
| 27 | China | Iceland |
| 28 | Ukraine | Turkey |
| 29 | Netherlands | Latvia |
| 30 | Serbia | Hong Kong, China |
| 31 | Croatia | DPR Korea |
| 32 | Spain | Bulgaria |
| 33 | Iceland | Australia |
| 34 | Israel | New Zealand |
| 35 | Mexico | Croatia |
| 36 | Australia | Lithuania |
| 37 | Bulgaria | Romania |
| 38 | Turkey | South Africa |
| 39 | Belgium | Belgium |
| 40 | Chinese Taipei | Ukraine |
| 41 | Luxembourg | Estonia |
| 42 | New Zealand | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| 43 | Georgia | |
| 44 | United Arab Emirates | |
| 45 | DPR Korea | |
| 46 | Hong Kong, China | |
| 47 | Thailand | |
| 48 | Turkmenistan | |
| 49 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | |
| 50 | Kyrgyzstan | |
| 51 | Kuwait | |
| 52 | South Africa | |
| 53 | Malaysia | |
| 54 | Philippines | |
| 55 | Singapore |
Source: iihf.com