Ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Ice hockey
at the Games of the Olympiad
Ice hockey; at the Games of the Olympiad
	Hockey pictogram
Venues	PalaItalia; Fiera Milano
Dates	5–22 February
No. of events	2 (1 men and 1 women)
Competitors	530
	← 2022 2030 →

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 2025 program due to their military aggression in Ukraine.^[2] The decision on whether to expand the ban into 2026 has not been made, yet the current ban has effectively disqualified Belarus from competing and may impact the championship further.

Venues

PalaItalia	Fiera Milano
PalaItalia
Milan	Milan

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.^[3]

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.^[4] Qualifiers one, two, and three, are the winners of the final qualification tournaments. Their designation will be determined by their qualification seeding.

Group A	Group B	Group C
Canada Sweden Switzerland Italy	Finland Germany Czechia Denmark	Russia^[a] United States Slovakia Latvia

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 will be determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2024 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships.^[1]

Participating nations

The groups will be 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 will be determined by their qualification seeding.

Group A	Group B
Canada United States Finland Czechia Switzerland	Russia^[a] Qualifier 1 Qualifier 2 Qualifier 3 Italy

Qualification summary / Participating NOC's

Nations	Men	Women	Athletes
Canada			48
Czech Republic			48
Denmark			25
Finland			48
Germany			25
Italy			48
Latvia			25
Russia^[a]			48
Slovakia			25
Sweden			25
Switzerland			48
United States			48
Total: 12 NOCs	12	7	436

^ ^a ^b ^c The participation of Russia is not yet confirmed and depends on if the team is allowed to return to the IIHF Championship program. If Russia is banned, France, as the highest-ranked second place team from the final Olympic qualification round, will join the men's tournament seeded 12th, while the highest-ranked team that finished second in the final Olympic qualifying tournament will be seeded 10th in the women's tournament.

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.
^ "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.

[RUS-5] The participation of Russia is not yet confirmed and depends on if the team is allowed to return to the IIHF Championship program. If Russia is banned, France, as the highest-ranked second place team from the final Olympic qualification round, will join the men's tournament seeded 12th, while the highest-ranked team that finished second in the final Olympic qualifying tournament will be seeded 10th in the women's tournament.

[system-1] "Qualification System – XXV Olympic Winter Games" (PDF). Olympics.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

[2] "Russia and Belarus not reincorporated into 2024/2025 IIHF Championship Season". iihf.com. Retrieved 14 February 2024.

[3] "NHL players to return to Olympics in 2026 and 2030". CNN.com. 2 February 2024. Retrieved 3 February 2024.

[4] "2026 Men's Olympic Winter Games & Qualification Tournament Program" (PDF). IIHF.com. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

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v t e Ice hockey at the Olympic Games
Overview	1920 (Summer) 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Men's events	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
Women's events	1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
List of medalists List of venues Triple Gold Club