Ostrava Group A consists of USA, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan and Poland.
The placing of teams in groups depends on the ranking of the International Ice Hockey Federation. It ranks countries according to their success over the last four years, taking into account placements at the World Cup and Olympic Games. The allocated points from the three previous championships are reduced by 25 percent each year.
| What should the composition of the basic groups of the WC 2024 look like? | |
|---|---|
| Group B (Prague) | Group A (Ostrava |
| Finland | USA |
| You have | Sweden |
| Switzerland | Germany |
| Czechia | Slovakia |
| Denmark | Latvia |
| Norway | Francie |
| Austria | Kazakhstan |
| V. Britain | Poland |
The organizers always have the option of one change, and for the 2024 championship they finally did so when they moved the USA from the Prague group to the Ostrava one. The reigning world champions, the Canadians, are traveling in the opposite direction. The exchange must be approved by all interested parties within 14 days.
“Until the last match of this year’s WC, we didn’t know the exact composition of the groups. That was decided in Tampere only by the match for the gold. As the organizer, we have the option of one change. The number one priority for us was placing the Czech team in Prague and Slovakia in Ostrava. In this respect, the ranking brought us luck and we did not have to deal with this exchange. That’s why we were able to focus on our second priority – the participation of the Canadian team in Prague and the overseas team in Ostrava,” explains Czech Hockey General Secretary Jan Černý.
Editing of the quarter-finals of the World Cup USA – Czech RepublicVideo: Czech television
“That’s why it was a clear matter to exchange Canada for the United States. Our preliminary negotiations with the representatives of the Maple Leafs are such that if they play in our capital, we can expect the arrival of hockey stars and thus use the potential of the current world champions in the Prague arena. We would like to convey to the audience the experience of watching the biggest possible stars of contemporary hockey. I think that the division could not have turned out better for the fans,” Černý is pleased.
| Ranking of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) after the World Cup 2023: |
|---|
| 1. Canada 4150 points |
| 2. Finland 4080 |
| 3. Russia 4050 |
| 4. USA 3940 |
| 5. Germany 3835 |
| 6. Sweden 3800 |
| 7. Switzerland 3775 |
| 8. Czech Republic 3735 |
| 9. Slovakia 3690 |
| 10. Latvia 3610 |
| 11. Denmark 3500 |
| 12. Norway 3270 |
| 13. Francie 3240 |
| 14. Belarus 3175 |
| 15. Kazakhstan 3170 |
| 16. Austria 3135 |
| 17. Slovenia 2990 |
| 18. Italy 2970 |
| 19. Hungary 2950 |
| 20. Great Britain 2945 |
The Czechs would like to approach the record attendance from the last World Cup held in the Czech Republic in 2015. At that time, 741,690 spectators watched the matches in Prague and Ostrava directly in the stadiums.
“The Prague and Ostrava groups promise a battle of attractive teams. The fact that the Czechs will play in Prague and the Slovak national team in Ostrava promises high attendance in both arenas. In addition, after more than two decades, we can look forward to the Poles at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, when we believe that, given the short distance, they will help fill the Ostrava arena. I am sure that an interesting spectacle awaits us in both cities, which I am very much looking forward to,” says Petr Bříza, president of the World Cup 2024 organizing committee and at the same time senior vice-president of the IIHF.
The specific game program of the World Cup 2024 will be officially presented during the summer after all the negotiations between the organizing committee, the TV companies, the IIHF, the marketing agency Infront and with all the participating countries have been completed.
