History
Ice hockey's first world championships in ice hockey were held in 1930. The tournament has been held annually since then, except for the 1940-46 period and some Olympic years.
The Winter Olympic champion was considered the world champion from 1932 through 1968. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) held separate world championship tournaments in the Winter Olympic years of 1972, 1976, 1992, 1996, and 1998. There are no recognized world champions for 1980, 1984, and 1988.
Originally, teams were seeded and played a single elimination tournament. In 1961, the IIHF set up a new format with three pools of four teams each and preliminary round-robin competition within the pools. A fourth pool was added in 1987.
The round-robin results determine which teams advance in the tournament, and countries may also move up or down one pool based on the round-robin competition.
Under the latest format, adopted in 2001, there are three divisions. The top 16 countries compete in the World Championship Division. Below that are Divisions I and II, each of which has 12 teams.
Teams in those divisions compete in groups of six, with the winner in each group moving up to the next division and the loser dropping down. The two worst teams in the World Championship Division tournament move down to Division I. Other countries have to play in a qualification tournament to enter Division II.
The women's world championship was inaugurated in 1990 as a biennial tournament. However, the 1996 championship was put off to 1997 because women's ice hockey became an Olympic event that year.
The women's tournament has been held annually since 1999, except for years when the Winter Olympics are held.
