Ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics
| Ice hockey at the XXV Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
| Venues | PalaItalia Fiera Milano |
| Dates | 5–22 February |
| No. of events | 2 (1 men and 1 women) |
| Competitors | 530 from 13 nations |
| at the 2026 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Qualification | ||
| men | women | |
| Tournament | ||
| men | women | |
| Rosters | ||
| men | women | |
The ice hockey competitions of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be played at two venues located in the Milan cluster: the PalaItalia and one of the Fiera Milano pavilions.
The men's tournament will have 12 teams competing, and the women's tournament 10.[1] Russia and Belarus are currently banned from competing in international championships through the IIHF's 2026 program due to their military aggression in Ukraine.[2][3]
Venues
| PalaItalia Santa Giulia | Fiera Milano |
|---|---|
| PalaItalia | |
| Milan | Milan |
Competition schedule
Ice hockey competitions are scheduled to start one day before the Opening Ceremony with the following schedule:[4]
| PR | Preliminary round | PO | Playoffs | QF | Quarter-finals | SF | Semi-finals | B | Bronze-medal match | G | Gold-medal match |
Date Event |
Wed 4 | Thu 5 | Fri 6 | Sat 7 | Sun 8 | Mon 9 | Tue 10 | Wed 11 | Thu 12 | Fri 13 | Sat 14 | Sun 15 | Mon 16 | Tue 17 | Wed 18 | Thu 19 | Fri 20 | Sat 21 | Sun 22 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men's tournament | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | PO | QF | SF | B | G | ||||||||||
| Women's tournament | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | PR | QF | QF | SF | B | G | |||||||||
Men's tournament
The tournament will feature twelve countries, eight qualifying through the IIHF World Ranking, the host Italy, and three through qualifying tournaments. The format remains the same as the previous three Olympics; three groups of four compete in three games to determine seeding, each play every other team in their group, followed by four rounds of elimination games. Each group winner receives a bye into the second round, along with the highest ranked of the remaining teams. The remaining eight teams play an eliminating qualification game to advance to the quarter-final round. Each quarter-final winner advances to the semi-finals with the winners playing for the gold medal and the losers playing for the bronze.
On 2 February 2024, the IIHF announced that an agreement had been reached with the National Hockey League (NHL) for a break in its regular season to allow the league's players to participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The NHL was originally scheduled to compete in 2022 as well but opted out due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]
Qualification
Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships. The top eight will be joined the hosts and three qualifiers.[1]
Participating nations
The groups were established following the 2023 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships.[6] Qualifiers one, two and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by their qualification seeding.
| Group A | Group B | Group C |
|---|---|---|
Women's tournament
Ten countries will again compete in the women's tournament, six qualifying through the IIHF World Ranking, the host Italy, and three through qualifying tournaments.
Qualification
Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2026 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships.[1]
Participating nations
The groups were established following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. Qualifiers one, two, and three are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation was determined by their qualification seeding.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
Qualification summary / Participating NOCs
| Nations | Men | Women | Athletes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 48 | ||
| Czech Republic | 48 | ||
| Denmark | 25 | ||
| Finland | 48 | ||
| France[a] | 48 | ||
| Germany | 48 | ||
| Italy | 48 | ||
| Japan | 23 | ||
| Latvia | 25 | ||
| Slovakia | 25 | ||
| Sweden | 48 | ||
| Switzerland | 48 | ||
| United States | 48 | ||
| Total: 13 NOCs | 12 | 10 | 530 |
References
- ^ a b c "Qualification System – XXV Olympic Winter Games" (PDF). Olympics.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
- ^ "Russia and Belarus not reincorporated into 2024/2025 IIHF Championship Season". iihf.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ a b "IOC says Russian teams remain banned from '26 Winter Olympics". Reuters. ESPN. 27 May 2025. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
- ^ "Milano Cortina 2026: Complete ice hockey schedule". olympics.com. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
- ^ "NHL players to return to Olympics in 2026 and 2030". CNN.com. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ "2026 Men's Olympic Winter Games & Qualification Tournament Program" (PDF). IIHF.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.