The World Ice Hockey Championship is the highest international competition among national ice hockey teams. It is organized annually since 1920 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).
Until 1968, ice hockey tournaments at the Winter Olympics were officially considered World Championships. Since then, the World Cup is played independently of the Olympic Games, although it was not held in 1980, 1984 or 1988. The first World Cup that was held as an individual event was in 1930, in which twelve countries participated. This sports competition has been organized continuously except for the period between 1940 and 1946, in which due to the Second World War, it was not possible to carry it out. Originally, this championship was a tournament open only to amateur athletes, until in 1976 the participation of professionals was allowed. However, when played in April and May, numerous NHL players do not participate in the tournament. The NHL has held parallel tournaments: the Canada Cup between 1976 and 1991, and the World Cup in 1996 and 2004.
The women’s tournament has been held annually since 1990, except for the years in which the Winter Olympics are held.
The World Hockey League was an international competition between national teams of field hockey, or as they say in Spain field hockey, organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). It was played in four rounds over two years and served to qualify both the World Championship and the Olympic Games. It aimed to involve a much larger number of nations in international competition than those that involved the tournaments existing up to that time.
The first World Hockey League 2012-13 started on August 14, 2012, and ended in February 2014. 60 countries participated in it, 19 of which were excluded from international competition.
It was replaced after three editions by the Hockey Pro League.
Format
Both the women’s and men’s events consisted of four rounds, which consisted of several groups, except the final Round. The number of groups and teams in each Round varied in each edition of the contest. The number of groups in round 1 varied in each edition, depending on the number of participating national teams. The groups in round 1 were continental, while in the other rounds, the teams were chosen without geographical restrictions.
First Round: all countries whose world ranking, according to the FIH, are less than. I participated. Participants formed groups of variable quantities that faced each other ( round-robin ) in a selected venue. The number of groups varied depending on whether it was the Men’s World League or the Women’s World League. The groups were continental, although Europe had several groups. After the meetings, the teams that qualified for each group, in number that varied according to the participants, went on to the next Round.
Second Round: the second Round was played by teams divided into four groups of six teams each. In this Round, the teams that qualified in the first Round participated, plus the eight countries located in the world ranking below the defined limit to directly access the semifinals. They were joined by countries that exercised locality. They classified eight teams, although the allocation of the local country could vary the places for this instance in the Second Round, this happened if the local country that was assigned was not among the eight best in the ranking, in this case, those classified by this Round was seven.
Semifinals: in the semifinals, the national teams were divided into two groups with a number of teams that varied. Some of those teams were the ones that qualified for the Second Round, and the rest were the nations located in the first places of the world ranking that obtained the direct classification to this Round, adding the local country.
In this instance, the classification for the World Championship or the Olympic Games was established. The classified teams were those with the best location in their respective semifinals that did not win their continental championship.
Finals: the final eight disputed teams that qualified in the semifinals. In this instance, the winner of the tournament was defined.