For fans of women’s hockey, the international competition scene may look different in the coming years as changes in rosters, seeding format, and leadership were recently finalized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The IIHF finalized these changes at its Semi-Annual Congress in Rhodes, Greece, in late September 2024.
The current tournament format accommodates ten teams split between two preliminary higher-ranked and lower-ranked teams into Group A and Group B, respectively—a format that the IIHF first adopted in 2012. This was originally introduced to minimize lopsided scores and blowouts in the women’s championship and to give European teams more head-to-head games against the U.S. and Canada.
However, the 2025–26 season will introduce “snake seeding” to sort the ten teams into their groups based on their IIHF World Rankings. This utilizes the balanced approach over the weighted groups. In this format, the bottom team in each group will play off in a relegation game to determine who will return in the following season. This method, also known as the “serpentine” system, is also present in the men’s World Junior Championship and the U18 Women’s World Championship. According to the IIHF, the new format will ensure that both groups will be of equal rank.
In addition, the 2025 women’s and U18 women’s tournaments will see team rosters expand to twenty-five players. This allows each team to have twenty-two skaters and three goaltenders. This is up from the previous limit of twenty skaters and three goaltenders. This move will put the women’s tournament squads closer in line with their male counterparts.
The intention behind these upcoming changes is the IIHF’s broader goal to increase female representation within the sport. The IIHF Council is also making changes to leadership to allow the organization to reflect these ideals. Members at the Semi-Annual Congress supported a motion regarding the next IIHF Council election in 2026, guaranteeing that at least three of the Council’s fifteen seats would go to female members. Additionally, the Congress agreed on resolutions to ensure that starting in 2026, women would constitute at least one-third of the membership of their committees, including the disciplinary board.
The changes aim to help the IIHF’s ambition to become “a forward-looking supporter of
opportunities for all.” These updated rules will be interesting for fans to see but changes will not be implemented until after the 2025 Women’s World Championship in Czechia.
