2021 IIHF World Championship

The 2021 IIHF World Championship (2021. gada Pasaules čempionāts hokejā) took place from 21 May to 6 June 2021. It was originally to be co-hosted by Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia, as the IIHF announced on 19 May 2017. Their joint bid won by a very tight margin against the Finnish bid with the cities of Tampere and Helsinki. On 18 January 2021 the IIHF decided to remove Belarus as a co-host due to security reasons. On 2 February the IIHF voted to confirm Latvia as the sole host for the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocols, the tournament will be held in a "bubble" behind closed doors with no spectators. Prior to the beginning of the tournament, and against objections by Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and Minister of Health, Daniels Pavļuts, the Latvian parliament voted in favour of a notion ordering the government to develop a plan for allowing spectators who are either fully vaccinated or otherwise immune due to recent infection.

Venues
The Minsk Arena was originally planned to be used for the Championship.

Belarus hosting controversy
Despite similar political opposition in 2014 when Belarus was the sole host of the IIHF World Championship, Belarus was to be the co-host for the 2021 IIHF Championship. However, in the wake of the ongoing 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, several political groups, politicians and international entities, including the European Parliament and Krišjānis Kariņš, the Prime Minister of Latvia, which was set to co-host the championship, protested tournament matches being held in Belarus, and called for the country to be stripped of co-hosting duties. Several sponsors of the tournament reportedly threatened to withdraw from sponsoring the event if it took place in Belarus.

On 18 January 2021, the IIHF, citing "safety and security issues," decided that the World Championship would not be played in Belarus. Latvia would remain as a co-host for the time being, but the IIHF was considering whether to go with another site, due to COVID-19 constraints and the desirability for single-site travel. Both Denmark and Slovakia (the tournament hosts in 2018 and 2019 respectively) reportedly offered to step in as hosts.

Belarus flag controversy
On 24 May 2021, following the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident, Latvian officials replaced the Belarusian state flag in Riga with the former flag defaced with the former coat of arms used by opposition groups, including at the 2021 IIHF World Championship display of flags, which was replaced by Mayor of Riga Mārtiņš Staķis and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs. As a result, Belarus expelled the entire Latvian embassy from their country. The IIHF issued a statement protesting the replacement of the flag, and IIHF president René Fasel asked the mayor to remove the IIHF name, its flag and its symbols from such sites, or to restore the flag, insisting that the IIHF is an "apolitical sports organization". In response, Staķis said he would remove the IIHF flags. On 28 May 2021, Belarus opened criminal case against Staķis and Rinkēvičs for incitement to national hatred.

Participants
Qualified as host

Automatic qualifier after the cancellation of the 2020 IIHF World Championship
 * (Originally co-host)
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC1

1 Pursuant to a December 2020 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on doping sanctions, Russian athletes and teams are prohibited from competing under the Russian flag or using the Russian national anthem at any Olympic Games or world championships through 16 December 2022, and must compete as "neutral athlete[s]." For IIHF tournaments, the Russian team will play under the name "ROC".

Seeding
The seedings in the preliminary round are based on the 2020 IIHF World Ranking, as of the end of the 2019 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system with a swap between Canada and ROC to "accommodate special organizational needs".

Group A
 * Russian Olympic Committee flag.webp ROC (2)
 * (4)
 * (5)
 * (8)
 * (9)
 * (12)
 * (13)
 * (19)

Group B
 * (1)
 * (3)
 * (6)
 * (7)
 * (10)
 * (11)
 * (15)
 * (16)

Rosters
Each team's roster consists of at least 15 skaters (forwards, and defencemen) and 2 goaltenders, and at most 25 skaters and 3 goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a "Long List" no later than two weeks before the tournament, and a final roster by the Passport Control meeting prior to the start of tournament.

Summary
This tournament was notable for the amount of upsets which occurred in the preliminary round, including Denmark and Belarus' victory over Sweden, Kazakhstan's victory over Finland, Slovakia's victory over Russia, and Latvia's victory over Canada.

Match officials
18 referees and linesmen were announced on 7 April 2021.

Mascot
The official mascot of the tournament was revealed in February 2020 by the IIHF. His name is Spiky the Hedgehog and he was voted by the fans in Belarus and Latvia. Hedgehog is very popular animal in the hosting countries and it represents the fighting spirit and determination of the Belarus and Latvian national hockey teams.

Preliminary round
The groups were announced on 20 May 2020. The schedule was released on 5 February 2021.

Broadcasting rights
These are the broadcasters for the 2021 IIHF World Championship.