The 2026 Ice Hockey World Championship starts in Switzerland. In the first days of the tournament, the Latvian national team will face matches against the tournament hosts Switzerland and Germany.
The 2026 Ice Hockey World Championship officially starts today in Switzerland. The matches of the tournament will be held in Zurich and Fribourg, and the first games promise several top matchups.
On the opening day in Group A, where the Latvian national team is also participating, Finland will face Germany, while Switzerland will meet the USA in the evening.
In Fribourg, Group B will first see a match between Canada and Sweden, followed by the Czech Republic and Denmark taking to the ice.
For Latvian fans, the tournament will truly begin on Saturday evening when the Latvian national team plays against the hosts of the championship — Switzerland.
The next day, the team will face another tough match — against Germany.
In fact, the start of the tournament for Latvia will be one of the most challenging in recent years: two serious opponents in the first two days.
Fans will surely pay special attention to the match against Austria on May 19. It was the defeat to the Austrians in the last World Championship that deprived Latvia of a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.
In the group, the Latvians will also face Finland, the USA, Great Britain, and Hungary.
All matches of the Latvian national team will be broadcast live on LTV7.
In the second group, Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia, and Italy will play.
The tournament format remains familiar: 16 teams are divided into two groups of eight teams each. Each team will play seven matches.
The top four teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, while the last teams will leave the elite division.
Next year, their places will be taken by Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
In the last World Championship, the USA team won for the first time in a long time, defeating Switzerland in the final in overtime with a score of 1:0.
For Latvia, the last tournament ended in disappointment — the team finished in tenth place and could not advance to the playoffs.
Now the national team will try to reclaim its place among the best teams in the world, and interest in the tournament in Latvia traditionally remains one of the highest among all sporting events of the year.
The World Championship will last until May 31. The medal matches and semi-finals will be held in Zurich.
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