2028 IIHF World Championship

Main article: 2028 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships

2028 IIHF World Championship

Tournament details
Host country	France
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Dates	12–28 May
Teams	16

The 2028 IIHF World Championship will be hosted in France from 12 to 28 May 2028, as they were the only bid to host this IIHF World Championship.

Bidding process

These are the bids:^[1]

•  France
•  Kazakhstan (withdrew)
•  Norway (withdrew)

On 24 May 2024, during the IIHF General Assembly in Prague, France was confirmed as the host.^[2][3][4]

France

On 5 September 2023, the French Federation confirmed their plans to host the World Championship for the first time since 2017, with matches in Paris and Lyon after discussions about a potential co-host with Great Britain fell through.^[5] In January 2024, their application was officially submitted.^[6][7]

These are the venues for the French bid:

• Paris – Accor Arena, capacity 15,000
• Lyon – LDLC Arena, capacity 12,500

Withdrawn bids

Kazakhstan

On 9 February 2024, Kazakhstan filed another bid for the championship after losing to Germany for 2027.^[8] Similar to 2027, the venues are in Astana and Almaty.^[9] The bid was withdrawn before the final decision on 9th of May.^[10]

These were the venues for the Kazakh bid:

• Almaty – Almaty Arena, capacity 12,000
• Astana – Barys Arena, capacity 11,578

Norway

After withdrawing from the 2027 bidding process, Norway considered bidding for 2028.^[11] However, this didn't materialise due to financial reasons.^[5]

Participants

Qualified as hosts

•  France

Automatic qualifier after a top 14 placement at the 2027 IIHF World Championship

• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD
• TBD

Qualified through winning a promotion at the 2027 IIHF World Championship Division I

• TBD
• TBD

References

1. https://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/IIHF_Calendar_of_Events.pdf
2. "IIHF - IIHF Annual Congress". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 2024-05-25.
3. https://www.hockeyfrance.com/a-la-une/2024/05/mondial-2028-rendez-vous-a-paris-et-lyon/
4. https://www.iihf.com/en/news/61381/worlds_2028_let_s_meet_in_paris_and_lyon_(1)
5. "Hockey : Organisation du Mondial 2028 à Paris et Lyon ?". September 5, 2023.
6. "Mondial 2028. Dossier de candidature déposé !". January 11, 2024.
7. "La France a déposé son dossier pour le Mondial 2028". Francs Jeux.
8. "Қазақстан 2028 жылғы хоккейден әлем чемпионатын өткізуге өтінім берді".
9. Мауленов, Жасулан (February 20, 2024). "Қазақстан хоккейден 2028 жылғы Әлем чемпионатын өткізуге өтінім берді | Qazaq газеті".
10. "Казахстан отозвал заявку на проведение чемпионата мира по хоккею 2028 года".
11. "Norway withdraws bid". IIHF. Retrieved 30 May 2023.