The 2026 IIHF World Championship Division I consisted of two international ice hockey tournaments organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Divisions I A and I B represent the second and the third tier of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships.
In Group A, Kazakhstan and Ukraine gained promotion to the Top Division and Japan was relegated. In Group B, Estonia got the win and promoted.
Group A tournament
The Division I Group A tournament was played in Sosnowiec, Poland from 2 to 8 May 2026.
Participants Team QualificationPlaced 15th in the Elite Division in 2025 and was relegated.Placed 16th in the Elite Division in 2025 and was relegated.Placed 3rd in Division I A in 2025.Placed 4th in Division I A in 2025.Host, placed 5th in Division I A in 2025.Placed 1st in Division I B in 2025 and was promoted.
Match officials Seven referees and linesperson were selected for the tournament.
Referees Linesperson Niclas Lundsgaard Geoffrey Barcelo Killian Hinterdobler Zsombor Pálkövi Uldis Bušs Michał Baca Logan Gruhl Quentin Ugolini Kai Jürgens Markus Merk Michał Żak Daniel Konc Lim Jun-seo Eric Cattaneo
Standings
Results All times are local (UTC+2).
Statistics Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
PlayerGPGAPts+/−PIMPOS Danylo Trakht 5 4 4 8 +1 0 F Patryk Krężołek 5 5 1 6 +1 6 F Yū Satō 5 3 3 6 +1 2 F Patryk Wronka 5 3 3 6 +2 2 F Teruto Nakajima 5 0 6 6 −2 4 F Oleksiy Vorona 5 0 6 6 0 2 F Ihor Merezhko 5 3 2 5 0 0 D Oleksandr Peresunko 5 2 3 5 +2 2 F Artur Gatiyatov 5 1 4 5 +6 0 F Arkadiy Shestakov 5 0 5 5 +3 0 F GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com
Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
PlayerTOIGAGAASASv%SO Tomáš Fučík 304:27 10 1.97 153 93.46 0 Andrei Shutov 185:00 4 1.30 60 93.33 0 Yuta Narisawa 167:31 7 2.51 104 93.27 0 Faustas Nausėda 247:13 9 2.18 130 93.08 0 Bogdan Dyachenko 303:33 11 2.17 143 92.31 0 TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com
Awards Position Player Goaltender Tomáš Fučík Defenceman Ihor Merezhko Forward Danylo Trakht
Group B tournament
The Division I Group B tournament was played in Shenzhen, China from 29 April to 5 May 2026.
No team was relegated because of the cancellation of the Division II A tournament.
Participants Team QualificationPlaced 6th in Division I A in 2025 and was relegated.Placed 2nd in Division I B in 2025.Placed 3rd in Division I B in 2025.Host, placed 4th in Division I B in 2025.Placed 5th in Division I B in 2025.Placed 1st in Division II A in 2025 and was promoted.
Match officials Seven referees and linesperson were selected for the tournament.
Referees Linesperson Adam Forbes Feng Lei Jan Jaroš Henri Neva Wojciech Czech Roland Gerber Andreas Harnebring Chi Hongda Emil Dalsgaard Lukas Fleischmann Michał Gerne Tomáš Gegáň Gašper Zgonc Christian Billing
Standings
Results All times are local (UTC+8).
Statistics Scoring leaders List shows the top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
PlayerGPGAPts+/−PIMPOS Hou Yuyang 5 7 5 12 +3 6 F David Timofejev 5 6 3 9 +8 2 F Hunor Császár 5 3 6 9 +4 4 F Balázs Péter 5 1 8 9 0 2 F Tamás Részegh 5 5 3 8 −1 0 F Shin Sang-hoon 5 5 3 8 +2 2 F Kristjan Kombe 5 2 6 8 +8 0 F Kim Sang-wook 5 2 6 8 −1 2 F Nam Hee-doo 5 1 7 8 +2 0 D Rasmus Kiik 5 4 3 7 +8 0 F GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/− = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalties in Minutes; POS = Position Source: IIHF.com
Goaltending leaders Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage, who have played at least 40% of their team's minutes, are included in this list.
PlayerTOIGAGAASASv%SO Attila Adorján 239:10 4 1.00 87 95.40 1 Tu Yueran 196:23 6 1.83 108 94.44 1 Conrad Mölder 245:00 8 1.96 99 91.92 0 Cedrick Andree 158:51 12 4.53 113 89.38 0 Lee Yeon-seung 238:35 12 3.02 97 87.63 0 TOI = time on ice (minutes:seconds); SA = shots against; GA = goals against; GAA = goals against average; Sv% = save percentage; SO = shutouts Source: IIHF.com
Awards Position Player Goaltender Attila Adorján Defenceman Haoxi Wang Forward David Timofejev
References