The 2008 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 72nd such event hosted by the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

. Teams representing 48 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualification for division placements in the 2009 competition.

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

won the Top Division tournament and became the world champions. In the Division I Championship held in April,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

were promoted to the Championship division, while

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

were demoted to Division II. In the Division II competition,

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

were promoted,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

were relegated to Division III.

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

won the Division III qualification in February, and competed in the Division III competition from March to April. In that competition,

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

were promoted to Division II for 2009.

Championship (Top Division)

Sixteen teams comprise Top Division, with the bottom two teams relegating to Division I for the following year. ;Final standings # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # — ''relegated to Division I for 2009'' # — ''relegated to Division I for 2009''

Division I

Twelve teams comprise Division I. They are broken into two groups, with the winner of each group gaining promotion to the World Championship pool for the following year. Group A ;Final standings # — ''promoted to Championship pool for 2009'' # # # # # — ''relegated to Division II for 2009'' Group B ;Final standings # — ''promoted to Championship pool for 2009'' # # # # # — ''relegated to Division II for 2009''

Division II

Twelve teams comprise Division II. They are also broken into two groups competing to advance into Division I. Group A ;Final standings # — ''promoted to Division I for 2009'' # # # # # — ''relegated to Division III for 2009'' Group B ;Final standings # — ''promoted to Division I for 2009'' # # # # # — ''relegated to Division III for 2009''

Division III

Three teams comprised the Division III Qualification with the winning team advanced to the 2008 Division III main tournament. The main tournament of the Division III is made up of six teams. The top two teams are promoted to Division II for the following year.2008 Division III main tournament statistics
stats.iihf.com Qualification tournament ;Final standings # — ''qualified for the main tournament'' # # Main tournament ;Final standings # — ''promoted to Division II for 2009'' # — ''promoted to Division II for 2009'' # # # #

References

External links