2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 

The 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be co-hosted by Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia.

The next Worlds will take place at the biggest venues of two of the world’s most passionate hockey countries in Tampere and Riga from 12 to 28 May 2023.

The newly opened Nokia Arena in Tampere will serve as the main venue same as during the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship and will host one preliminary-round group, two quarter-finals, all semi-final and medal games.

For co-host Latvia it will be the chance to host the World Championship with fans since last year’s event had to be played in mostly empty arenas due to Covid-19 restrictions. Arena Riga with a capacity of up to 9,550 spectators will serve as the Latvian venue same as in 2006 and 2021 and will host one preliminary-round group and two quarter-final games.

Fan zones are planned next to both arenas. Latvia is well-known for its passionate fans travelling to the World Championship and thanks to them also had the second-highest average attendance at the recent World Championship only behind host Finland.

Finland will play the United States, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, France, Austria and Hungary in Group A in Tampere and meet Team USA for the opening game on Friday, 12 May at 16:20 local time.

Group B in Riga includes Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan and Slovenia. Host Latvia will play Canada in its opening game on Friday, 12 May at 20:20 local time following the neighbouring clash between Slovakia and Czechia in the afternoon. The next day Switzerland-Slovenia, Norway-Kazakhstan and Slovakia-Latvia will be played at Arena Riga.