Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics was determined through the IIHF World Ranking following the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The top eight teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, Italy received a berth as the host, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics through qualifying tournaments.
b Prague and Ostrava were the sites for 2004 IIHF World Championship; at the conclusion of the tournament the ranking were finalized with regards to the qualification slots.
Great Britain and South Korea chose not to participate in Olympic qualifying.
Olympic pre-qualification tournaments
Three round-robins were played from 11 to 14 November 2004. The teams seeded 18th, 19th, and 20th reserved the right to host these tournaments. The winners of each advanced to the final qualification tournaments.
Three round-robins were played from 10 to 13 February 2005. The teams seeded 9th, 10th and 11th reserved the right to host these tournaments. The three group winners qualified for the Olympic tournament.