The 2020 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships would have been the 84th 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 would have participated in several levels of competition, including the inaugural competition in the newly created Division IV. The competition would also have served as qualifications for division placements in the 2021 competition. Restructuring by the IIHF led to several changes in the lower divisions of the 2020 World Championships. Division III was renamed Division III-A, the Division III qualification tournament was renamed Division III-B, and Division IV was created, with the latter two tournaments consisting of four teams each instead of the standard six. The bottom two teams in the 2019 Division III qualification tournament were assigned to the new Division IV, along with newcomers

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. All tournaments were cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Championship (Top Division)

The tournament was scheduled to be held in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

from 8 to 24 May 2020. The tournament was cancelled on 21 March 2020 due to the

. * – Promoted from Division I-A * * * * * * * * – Promoted from Division I-A * * * * * * – Host *

Division I

Group A

The tournament was scheduled to be held in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

from 27 April to 3 May 2020. The tournament was cancelled on 17 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * – Relegated from Top Division * – Relegated from Top Division * * – Promoted from Division I-B * *

Group B

The tournament was scheduled to be held in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

from 27 April to 3 May 2020. The tournament was cancelled on 17 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * * * – Relegated from Division I-A * * – Promoted from Division II-A *

Division II

Group A

The tournament would have been held in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

from 19 to 25 April 2020. On 13 March 2020, the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * * * * – Promoted from Division II B * – Relegated from Division I B *

Group B

The tournament would have been held in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

from 19 to 25 April 2020. On 13 March 2020, the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * – Relegated from Division II A * – Promoted from Division III * * * *

Division III

Group A

The tournament would have been held in Kockelscheuer,

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

from 19 to 25 April 2020. On 13 March 2020, the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * * * – Relegated from Division II B * * * – Promoted from Division III A

Group B

The tournament would have been held in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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 ...

from 20 to 23 April 2020. On 13 March 2020, the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * * * – Relegated from Division III *

Division IV

The tournament would have been held in

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

from 3 to 5 March 2020. On 2 March 2020, the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. * * * *

References

External links

IIHF Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020 IIHF World Championship World Ice Hockey Championships, Men's IIHF Men's World Ice Hockey Championships IIHF World Championship 2020