Milano Cortina 2026 Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification preview: Full schedule and how to follow the action
Who will be the final three nations to book their spot at the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026? Here is everything you need to know about the final qualifiers.
Ice Hockey
The ice hockey lineup for the Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 will be decided in the Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification (29 August-1 September).
Twelve nations will compete for the remaining three spots at the next Winter Olympic Games, with nine teams including hosts Italy already assured of their berth.
The three qualification groups will be hosted across Slovakia, Latvia and Denmark. This is the last chance for hopeful nations to stamp their ticket to the Games, which are 18 months away.
Here is everything you need to know about the final ice hockey qualifiers for Milano-Cortina 2026.
Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification – all nations and groups
The 12 nations are divided into three groups of four, where the group winners will qualify for the Olympic Games in two years’ time.
Each group is hosted in one of the three best-ranked nations who did not earn automatic qualification through their world rankings, determined in 2023. Group D will be contested in Slovakia, Group E in Latvia and Group F in Denmark.
Slovakia are the highest-ranked team in the qualifiers at ninth, drawn in the same group as Kazakhstan in Bratislava. They faced off in the group stage of the World Championships earlier this year, where Slovakia reached the quarter-finals and are now looking to cement their spot on the top table of ice hockey.
Latvia won bronze at last year’s World Championships but will want to avenge themselves after failing to get out of the groups in 2024. Among the teams travelling to Riga are Ukraine, the lowest-ranked side still in with a chance of Olympic qualification.
The final group in Aalborg offers an enticing Scandinavian battle between hosts Denmark and Norway, who are currently ranked 11th and 12th respectively. Great Britain will hope to spring a surprise though, targeting their first Olympic Games since St. Moritz 1948.
Denmark and Norway faced off at the 2023 Ice Hockey World Championship, and will meet again to reach Milano Cortina 2026.
Men’s Final Olympic Ice Hockey Qualification – full schedule and how to watch live
Teams will play three games across four days, with a rest day between the second and third round of matches which concludes on 1 September.
The final qualification competition gets underway with the Group D clash between Kazakhstan and Hungary, who face off at the Ondrej Nepela Arena on 29 August. Kazakhstan will also contend the final match of the competition, against hosts Slovakia on 1 September.
View the full schedules for Group D, Group E and Group F.
All matches will be streamed live by the International Ice Hockey Federation on YouTube.