IIHF World Championship 2027

The IIHF World Championship is ice hockey's biggest annual national-team event — the 'Worlds' — staged every May by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Sixteen top-division nations play a two-and-a-half-week group stage before quarter-finals and a single-game final. Because it overlaps the NHL playoffs, each country's line-up shifts around which stars are free, which keeps the title unpredictable: five different nations have won the last five tournaments. It is a national obsession across the hockey heartlands of Canada, Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Russia, pulling huge home TV audiences and record crowds — the 2015 edition in the Czech Republic drew an all-time high of more than 740,000 spectators.

• Typearena
• AirportDüsseldorf Airport (DUS), about 7 km
• AirportDüsseldorf Airport (DUS) serves the Düsseldorf games; Frankfurt (FRA) is closest for the Mannheim venue.
• Time zoneEurope/Berlin

• Doors open around 90 minutes before face-off — arrive early for security at PSD Bank Dome or SAP Arena. Bags are restricted at both arenas; carry your ticket on phone and allow time for entry queues on big-match nights.

• Currency: euro
• Language: German
• Driving: on the right
• Capital: Berlin
• Phone: +49
• Emergency: 112
• Electricity: 230 V, plugs C/F