2023 World Men’s Curling Championship: Full schedule, preview, and how to watch live action

The 2023 World Men’s Curling Championship will be held in Ottawa, Canada from 1-9 April.

A total of 13 teams from across the world will compete for the global title with Sweden’s Team Edin as the reigning champions, having won the past four editions of the tournament.

The event will begin with a 12-game round-robin stage where all teams will play each other once.

The top six teams at the end of the round-robin phase will advance to the play-offs. The teams that finish first and second will receive byes to the semi-finals, while the teams that occupy third, fourth, fifth and sixth, will compete in qualification games for the semi-finals.

In the qualification games, the third-ranked team will meet the sixth-ranked team, while the fourth and fifth-ranked teams will play one another. The winners of these two games will advance to the semi-finals.

The two teams that come out on top of the semis will then meet in the final to contest the world title while the other two teams will meet in a battle for bronze.

No tiebreakers will be played so any ties that should emerge for play-off sports will be determined by head-to-head results. If the tie is still not resolved then the pre-game Last Shot Draw distances will be used.

The 13 teams in the tournament are Canada, Czechia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United States of America.

2023 World Men’s Curling Championship: Meet the 13 teams

• Canada

Skip: Brad Gushue
Third: Mark Nichols
Second: E.J. Harnden
Lead: Geoff Walker
Alternate: Ryan Harnden

• Czechia

Skip: Lukas Klima
Third: Marek Cernovsky
Second: Radek Bohac
Lead: Martin Jurik
Alternate: Lukas Klipa

• Germany

Lead: Sixten Totzek
Third: Kladuius Harsch
Second: Magnus Sutor
Lead: Dominik Greindl
Alternate: Marc Muskatewitz

• Italy

Skip: Joel Retornaz
Third: Amos Mosaner
Second: Sebastiano Arman
Lead: Mattia Giovanella

• Japan

Skip: Yanagisawa Riku
Third: Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi
Second: Yamamato Takeru
Lead: Koizumi Satoshi
Alternate: Usui Shingo

• Republic of Korea

Skip: Byeong-jin Jeong
Third: Jeong-jae Lee
Second: Min-woo Kim
Lead: Tae-hwan Kim

• New Zealand

Skip: Anton Hood
Third: Ben Smith
Second: Brett Sargon
Lead: Hunter Walker
Alternate: Peter de Boer

• Norway

Skip: Magnus Ramsfjell
Third: Martin Sesaker
Second: Bendik Ramsfjell
Lead: Gaute Nepstad
Alternate: Wilhelm Naess

• Scotland

Skip: Bruce Mouat
Third: Grant Hardie
Second: Bobby Lammie
Lead: Hammy McMillan
Alternate: Kyle Waddell

• Sweden

Skip: Niklas Edin
Third: Oskar Eriksson
Second: Rasmus Wranaa
Lead: Christoffer Sundgren
Alternate: Daniel Magnusson

• Switzerland

Fourth: Benoit Schwarz
Skip: Yannick Schwaller
Second: Sven Michel
Lead: Pablo Lachat

• Türkiye

Skip: Ugurcan Karagoz
Third: Muhammet Haydar Demirel
Second: Muhammed Zeki Ucan
Lead: Orhun Yuce
Alternate: Faruk Kavaz

• United States

Skip: John Shuster
Third: Chris Plys
Second: Matt Hamilton
Lead: John Landsteiner
Alternate: Colin Hufman

2023 World Men’s Curling Championship: Schedule in full

All times are local: EDT (UTC -4).

Saturday 1 April

Round Robin Session 1 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Canada v Switzerland
• Sheet B – Republic of Korea v New Zealand
• Sheet C – Sweden v Germany
• Sheet D – Scotland v Italy

Round Robin Session 2 – 19:00

• Sheet A – Japan v Türkiye
• Sheet B – Canada v Italy
• Sheet C – United States v Norway
• Sheet D – Czechia v New Zealand 

Sunday 2 April

Round Robin Session 3 – 09:00

• Sheet A – Norway v Republic of Korea
• Sheet B – Türkiye v Scotland
• Sheet C – Switzerland v Czechia
• Sheet D – United States v Sweden

Round Robin Session 4 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Scotland v Sweden
• Sheet B – Germany v Switzerland
• Sheet C – New Zealand v Canada
• Sheet D – Republic of Korea v Japan

Round Robin Session 5 – 19:00

• Sheet A – Czechia v Germany
• Sheet B – Japan v United States
• Sheet C – Italy v Türkiye
• Sheet D – Norway v Canada 

Monday 3 April

Round Robin Session 6 – 09:00

• Sheet A – Switzerland v Italy
• Sheet B – Sweden v Republic of Korea
• Sheet C – Czechia v United States

Round Robin Session 7 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Sweden v Türkiye
• Sheet B – New Zealand v Norway
• Sheet C – Canada v Japan
• Sheet D – Germany v Scotland

Round Robin Session 8 – 19:00

• Sheet A – United States v Republic of Korea
• Sheet B – Italy v Germany
• Sheet C – Norway v Switzerland
• Sheet D – Türkiye v Czech Republic

Tuesday 4 April

Round Robin Session 9 – 09:00

• Sheet B – Republic of Korea v Switzerland
• Sheet C – Scotland v United States
• Sheet D – Japan v New Zealand

Round Robin Session 10 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Türkiye v Germany
• Sheet B – Czechia v Canada
• Sheet C – Japan v Sweden
• Sheet D – Italy v Norway

Round Robin Session 11 – 19:00

• Sheet A – New Zealand v Italy
• Sheet B – United States v Türkiye
• Sheet C – Republic of Korea v Czechia
• Sheet D – Switzerland v Scotland

Wednesday 5 April

Round Robin Session 12 – 09:00

• Sheet A – Norway v Sweden
• Sheet B – Scotland v Japan
• Sheet C – Germany v New Zealand
• Sheet D – Canada v Republic of Korea

Round Robin Session 13 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Czechia v Japan
• Sheet B – Norway v Germany
• Sheet C – Türkiye v Switzerland
• Sheet D – Italy v United States

Round Robin Session 14 – 19:00

• Sheet A – Republic of Korea v Scotland
• Sheet B – Switzerland v New Zealand
• Sheet C – United States v Canada
• Sheet D – Sweden v Czechia

Thursday 6 April

Round Robin Session 15 – 09:00

• Sheet A – Germany v Canada
• Sheet B – Italy v Sweden
• Sheet C – Japan v Norway
• Sheet D – New Zealand v Türkiye

Round Robin Session 16 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Switzerland v United States
• Sheet B – Türkiye v Republic of Korea
• Sheet C – Czechia v Italy
• Sheet D – Scotland v Norway

Round Robin Session 17 – 19:00

• Sheet A – Sweden v New Zealand
• Sheet B – Canada v Scotland
• Sheet C – Germany v Republic of Korea
• Sheet D – Japan v Switzerland

Friday 7 April

Round Robin Session 18 – 09:00

• Sheet A – Italy v Japan
• Sheet B – Norway v Czechia
• Sheet C – Canada v Türkiye
• Sheet D – United States v Germany

Round Robin Session 19 – 14:00

• Sheet A – Scotland v Czechia
• Sheet B – New Zealand v United States
• Sheet C – Switzerland v Sweden
• Sheet D – Republic of Korea v Italy

Round Robin Session 20 – 19:00

• Sheet A – Türkiye v Norway
• Sheet B – Germany v Japan
• Sheet C – New Zealand v Scotland
• Sheet D – Sweden v Canada

Saturday 8 April

Playoff / Knockout phase

• Qualification Games – 14:00
• Semi-finals – 19:00

Sunday 9 April

Medal stage

• Bronze medal game – 11:00
• Gold medal game – 16:00

2023 World Men's Curling Championship: Teams to watch

Sweden, led by Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Niklas Edin, will start this year's world title campaign with the target on its back.

Reigning champions and winners of the past four editions of the world championships, Edin, Oskar Erikkson, Rasmus Wranaa and Christoffer Sundgren will touch down in Ottawa packing an impressive mix of consistency and experience making them an instant favourite to defend their title. But they won't be without their challengers.

Lying in wait will be the home team Canada, skipped by last year's runners-up Brad Gushue.

Having not won the title since 2017, there will be certain expectations attached to the curling powerhouse not least after they claimed a bronze at last year's Olympics. With the force of support expected to be behind them in Ottawa, they are sure to be a threat to all teams looking for a podium finish.

Also in the hunt will be Team Mouat of Scotland.

Olympic silver medallists with Great Britain, Bruce Mouat and his rink of Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, return to the world stage to represent their native country after opting out of competing in the 2022 edition.

Having formed something of a rivalry with Edin over recent years, with their 2021 world final meeting a notable chapter in its history, the reigning European champions are sure to pose tough competition for the Swedes as they attempt to defend their crown.

A year after winning a historic world bronze medal in Las Vegas last year, Joel Retornaz' Italian rink is also expected to be a stronger contender in Ottawa.

In addition to having an Olympic champion in their ranks with Amos Mosaner who won gold in Beijing in the mixed doubles contest alongside Stefania Constantini, Retornaz and his team have also enjoyed a record-breaking season.

In December last year, the Italians made history after becoming the first club from the country to capture a Grand Slam of Curling title after beating Team Mouat in the final. As hosts of the next Olympic Winter Games, the country will surely relish even more curling history if it can be achieved.

2023 World Men’s Curling Championship: How to watch live

The 2023 World Men's Curling Championship will be available to watch via The Curling Channel on Recast, a subscription-free streaming platform.

For viewers in Canada, the 2023 World Men’s Curling Championship will also be broadcast on TSN including every one of Canada’s round-robin games as well as the playoffs.

Live streams will be available on TSN.ca and in the TSN app.