The Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team is the national

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. Since 2021, the team has been officially known in English as Czechia. It is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in history and a member of the so-called " Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

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 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is governed by the

Czech Ice Hockey Association The Czech Ice Hockey Association (), also known by the shortened name Czech Ice Hockey (), is the Sport governing body, governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey in Czechia. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) ...

. The Czech Republic has 85,000 male players officially enrolled in organized hockey (0.8% of its population).

History

The Czech national team was formed following the breakup of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, as the country was split into the

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. The Czech Republic was recognized as the successor to Czechoslovakia and retained in the highest pool (A), while Slovakia was required start international play in pool C. ''See also Post-Cold War period of the IIHF world championships''. The Czechs won the gold medal at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

. In 2024, the team was recognized with the IIHF Milestone Award, given 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 ...

to a team that made a significant contribution to the development of international hockey. The 1998 Olympic hockey tournament was also the first the include

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

players. The IIHF reported the gold medal to be "the most important event in the country's history after the 1968 Uprising". The Czechs won three straight gold medals at the world championships from

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. In the next three years, the team did not get a medal at the world championships—not even home at the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships held in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

, thus keeping the "world championship home ice curse" alive. The following year, however, the Czechs won gold at the 2005 tournament, the only world championship where, due to the

2004–05 NHL lockout The 2004–05 NHL lockout was a labor lockout that resulted in the cancellation of the National Hockey League (NHL) season, which would have been its 88th season of play. The main dispute was the league's desire to implement a salary cap to ...

, all NHL players were available to participate. At the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, the Czechs won a bronze medal, defeating

3–0 ( roster) in the bronze medal game. At the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, the Czechs earned silver, falling to

in the final, the only time the Czechs have lost the final game of the tournament. The Czech Republic won the 2010 World Championships in Germany. For the first time in history, the Czech Republic did not qualify for the quarterfinals at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

and finished in ninth place, their lowest placement in history. However, they won a bronze medal at the 2022 IIHF World Championship later the same year, ending its longest medal drought in IIHF tournaments history, which had lasted since 2012. In 2023, the Czech Republic finished in eighth place at the World Championship, which is the worst placement in history. At the 2024 IIHF World Championship, they ended their 14-year gold drought after winning it for the first time since 2010, also as hosts.

Tournament record

Olympic Games

World Championship

World Cup of Hockey

Euro Hockey Tour

Team

Current roster

Roster for the 2025 IIHF World Championship. Head coach: Radim Rulík

Retired numbers

* 4 – Karel Rachůnek * 15 – Jan Marek * 63 – Josef Vašíček

Coaching history

;Olympics *1994 and 1998 – Ivan Hlinka *2002 – Josef Augusta *2006 – Alois Hadamczik *2010 –

Vladimír Růžička Vladimír Růžička (; born 6 June 1963, nickname "Rosie") is a Czech ice hockey coach and former professional player. Růžička was twice named the top player in the Czechoslovak Elite League, and was on the gold medal team in the Ice Hockey ...

*2014 – Alois Hadamczik *2018 – Josef Jandač *2022 – Filip Pešán ;World Championships *1993–1994 – Ivan Hlinka *1995–1996 – Luděk Bukač *1997–1999 – Ivan Hlinka *2000–2002 – Josef Augusta *2003–2004 – *2005 – Vladimír Růžička *2006–2008 – Alois Hadamczik *2009–2010 – Vladimír Růžička *2011–2013 – Alois Hadamczik *2014–2015 – Vladimír Růžička *2016 – Vladimír Vůjtek *2017–2018 – Josef Jandač *2019 – Miloš Říha *2021 – Filip Pešán *2022–2023 – Kari Jalonen *2024–2025 – Radim Rulík

Uniform evolution

File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 1994 (WOG).png, 1994 Olympic jerseys File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 1996 (WC).png, IIHF jerseys 1996–1998 File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 1998-2002.png, IIHF jerseys 1998–2002 File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 2006.png, 2006 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 2009.png, 2009 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national hockey team jerseys - 2014 Winter Olympics.png, 2014 Olympic jerseys File:Czech Republic national team jerseys 2015.png, 2015–2019 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2018 (WOG).png, 2018 Olympic jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2019 IHWC.png, 2019–2021 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2021 IHWC.png, 2021 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png, 2022 Olympic jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 IHWC.png, 2022–2023 IIHF jerseys File:Czech Republic national ice hockey team jerseys 2022 (WOG).png, 2024 IIHF Jerseys

References

External links

*
IIHF profileNational Teams of Ice Hockey
{{National sports teams of the Czech Republic National ice hockey teams in Europe Ice hockey in the Czech Republic 1993 establishments in the Czech Republic Men's national ice hockey teams