The schedule for the 2027 IIHF World Championship was today announced for the tournament taking place in Düsseldorf and Mannheim, Germany, with the hosts set to kick off the tournament with an epic opener at Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, trying to break the international attendance record set when Germany last hosted in 2010.

Group A in Düsseldorf will kickoff with the aforementioned spectacle at the 60,000+ Veltins-Arena stadium in Gelsenkirchen, with the hosts set to face 2025 runners-up Switzerland. Group play will spend the rest of the tournament at the PSD Bank Dome, with defending champions Finland and the ever-threatening Swedes rounding out the top of the group. Fighting for medal round spots will be the likes of Latvia, Austria, Slovenia and Ukraine, promoted to the Top Division for the first time in two decades.

Group B, hosted at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, will see the trio of the defending Olympic champion United States, Canada and Czechia slugging it out for top spot in the group, with the likes of Slovakia, Denmark and the Cinderella-Bronze medalists of 2026, Norway, angling for the final spot in the elimination round. Barring a set of shocking upsets, the relegation round will likely fall to Hungary and Kazakhstan, back in the Top Division after a one-year stint in Division IA.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

The IHLC will likely be brought to Germany by one of the four clubs on the Euro Hockey Tour (Finland, Sweden, Czechia or Switzerland), with the international calendar returning to a sense of normalcy after 2026’s Olympic break in Milan. Who will bring the title to Germany, and whether they can leave with it by 30 May, is anyone’s guess!

Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2026 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC