2022 Winter Olympics – Women's qualification

Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics was determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. The host along with the top six teams in the world ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics.^[1]

Qualified teams

Event	Date	Location	Vacancies	Qualified
Hosts	17 May 2018^[2]	Copenhagen	1	China
2020 IIHF World Ranking^a	12 December 2016 – 10 April 2020	n/a	6^[1]	United States Canada Finland ROC Switzerland Japan
Final qualification tournament^[3]	11–14 November 2021^[4]^[5]	Chomutov	1	Czech Republic
		Füssen	1	Denmark
		Luleå	1	Sweden
Total			10

Notes

^a 2020 IIHF World Ranking and formulated from the following events: 2017 World Championship, 2018 World Championship, 2018 Winter Olympic Games, 2019 World Championship and 2020 World Championship. ^b Halifax and Truro were the sites for 2020 IIHF World Championship; the conclusion of the tournament the ranking was to be finalized with regards to the direct qualification slots, but several 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeding for 2020 was used in lieu of placement to determine ranking for unplayed tournaments.

Qualification seeding

To qualify directly, a nation had to be ranked in the top six following the 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships.^[1] Using the IIHF World Ranking points system, the current year received full value, and each preceding year was worth 25% less. The following is a ranking based on points that were accumulated toward Olympic qualification.^[6]

Note: Several WC 2020 tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic so points for that year were earned based on overall finish in 2019.

Place	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	...
Points	1200	1160	1120	1100	1060	1040	1020	1000	960	940	920	900	880	860	840	820	800	780	760	740	...

	Qualified directly to Olympic Tournament
	Enter qualifying in the final round
	Enter qualifying in the pre-qualification round 2
	Enter qualifying in the pre-qualification round 1 (cancelled)

Seeding	Team	WC 2020	WC 2019	WC 2018	OLY 2018	WC 2017	Total
1	United States	1200	900	600	600	300	3600
2	Canada	1160	840	580	580	290	3450
3	Finland	1120	870	560	560	280	3390
4	Russia	1100	825	550	550	265	3290
5	Switzerland	1060	795	530	530	255	3170
6	Japan	1040	750	520	520	240	3070
7	Czech Republic	1020	780	500	480	250	3030
8	Germany	1000	765	490	470	275	3000
9	Sweden	920	720	510	510	260	2920
10	France	900	705	480	460	215	2760
11	Denmark	960	675	450	440	225	2750
12	Hungary	940	690	460	410	220	2720
13	Norway	880	660	440	450	230	2660
14	Austria	860	645	470	430	235	2640
15	Slovakia	840	630	430	400	210	2510
16	South Korea	780	585	410	500	180	2455
17	Italy	800	615	420	420	190	2445
18	Netherlands	820	600	360	360	175	2315
Hosts	China	740	555	380	380	195	2250
19	Poland	760	570	370	350	185	2235
20	Kazakhstan	720	540	390	370	205	2225
	Latvia	680	525	400	390	200	2195
21	Great Britain	660	495	350	330	170	2005
22	Slovenia	700	510	320	310	160	2000
23	Spain	640	480	300	340	145	1905
24	Mexico	620	465	310	320	150	1865
25	Turkey	500	375	260	300	130	1565
	North Korea	600	450	340	0	165	1555
	Australia	560	435	330	0	155	1480
26	Chinese Taipei	580	420	290	0	120	1410
27	Iceland	540	390	280	0	135	1345
	New Zealand	520	405	270	0	140	1335
28	Hong Kong	340	285	210	290	100	1225
	Romania	400	345	250	0	125	1120
	Croatia	480	360	240	0	0	1080
	Belgium	420	315	230	0	115	1080
	South Africa	440	300	220	0	110	1070
29	Bulgaria	380	270	200	0	105	955
	Ukraine	460	330	0	0	0	790
30	Lithuania	360	0	0	0	0	360

Solid shading indicate the nation is assured of being in that round.
If a nation does not register for olympic qualification those ranked lower move up.

Pre-qualification Round 1

Teams ranked 27th and lower would have played off to advance to the next round. The tournament was scheduled to take place from 17 to 19 December 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic until 26 to 29 August 2021.^[4]^[7]

The tournament was supposed to be held in Reykjavík, Iceland and feature Iceland, Hong Kong, Bulgaria and Lithuania. However, it was cancelled on 9 August 2021 after Bulgaria withdrew and the other teams raised concerns because of the pandemic.^[8] As a result Iceland, the highest seeded team, automatically advanced to the next round.

Pre-qualification Round 2

Teams ranked 16th to 26th, plus one qualifier from Round 1 played in three tournaments to determine qualifiers for the next round. Each tournament winner was ranked by their qualification seeding and entered the next round as qualifier four, five or six. These tournaments were scheduled to take place from 11 to 14 February 2021, but were postponed to 7 to 10 October 2021.^[4]

Group F

The tournament was scheduled to be held in Gangneung, South Korea. On 3 September 2021, the IIHF announced that it had moved the tournament to Nottingham, Great Britain due to COVID-19 restrictions in South Korea.^[9]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Korea	3	2	0	0	1	13	1	12	6	Final qualification
2	Great Britain (H)	3	2	0	0	1	7	2	5	6
3	Slovenia	3	2	0	0	1	8	6	2	6
4	Iceland	3	0	0	0	3	2	21	−19	0

7 October 2021
14:00

Slovenia

0–3
(0–0, 0–2, 0–1)

South Korea

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 360


			Referee: Elise Harbitz-Rasmussen Linesmen: Faye Andrews Maren Frohaug

8 min	Penalties	12 min
12	Shots	46

7 October 2021
19:15

Great Britain

5–0
(2–0, 1–0, 2–0)

Iceland

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 783


			Referee: Agnese Kārkliņa Linesmen: Loise Larsen Veronica Lovensnö

4 min	Penalties	8 min
38	Shots	11

8 October 2021
14:00

South Korea

10–0
(3–0, 3–0, 4–0)

Iceland

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 480


			Referee: Hanna Åberg Linesmen: Lorna Beresford Loise Larsen

6 min	Penalties	12 min
45	Shots	6

8 October 2021
19:00

Great Britain

1–2
(1–0, 0–2, 0–0)

Slovenia

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 1,027


			Referee: Elise Harbitz-Rasmussen Linesmen: Maren Frohaug Veronica Lovensnö

12 min	Penalties	10 min
49	Shots	22

10 October 2021
13:00

Iceland

2–6
(1–1, 1–2, 0–3)

Slovenia

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 624


			Referee: Agnese Kārkliņa Linesmen: Faye Andrews Lorna Beresford

8 min	Penalties	10 min
27	Shots	23

10 October 2021
17:00

South Korea

0–1
(0–0, 0–1, 0–0)

Great Britain

Motorpoint Arena Nottingham, Nottingham
Attendance: 1,700


			Referee: Hanna Åberg Linesmen: Loise Larsen Veronica Lovensnö

10 min	Penalties	8 min
25	Shots	23

Group G

The tournament was held in Torre Pellice, Italy.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy (H)	3	3	0	0	0	13	2	11	9	Final qualification
2	Spain	3	1	1	0	1	8	6	2	5
3	Kazakhstan	3	1	0	1	1	10	6	4	4
4	Chinese Taipei	3	0	0	0	3	1	18	−17	0

7 October 2021
16:00

Kazakhstan

7–1
(2–0, 4–1, 1–0)

Chinese Taipei

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 100


			Referee: Marie Picavet Linesmen: Ines Confidenti Danielle Rostan

4 min	Penalties	6 min
59	Shots	16

7 October 2021
20:15

Spain

1–4
(0–3, 1–0, 0–1)

Italy

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 300


			Referee: Ulrike Winklmayr Linesmen: Jamie Monard Katja Mrak

20 min	Penalties	12 min
16	Shots	46

9 October 2021
16:00

Kazakhstan

2–3 GWS
(0–0, 1–2, 1–0)
(OT: 0–0)
(SO: 0–1)

Spain

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 150


			Referee: Ulrike Winklmayr Linesmen: Jamie Monard Danielle Rostan

16 min	Penalties	8 min
38	Shots	14

9 October 2021
20:15

Italy

7–0
(1–0, 2–0, 4–0)

Chinese Taipei

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 200


			Referee: Melissa Boverio Linesmen: Alexia Cheyroux Katja Mrak

2 min	Penalties	10 min
48	Shots	6

10 October 2021
16:00

Chinese Taipei

0–4
(0–0, 0–3, 0–1)

Spain

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 100


			Referee: Melissa Boverio Linesmen: Katja Mrak Danielle Rostan

6 min	Penalties	4 min
16	Shots	44

10 October 2021
20:15

Italy

2–1
(0–1, 0–0, 2–0)

Kazakhstan

Olympic Ice Palace, Torre Pellice
Attendance: 300


			Referee: Marie Picavet Linesmen: Alexia Cheyroux Ines Confidenti

10 min	Penalties	12 min
31	Shots	15

Group H

The tournament was held in Bytom, Poland.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Poland (H)	3	3	0	0	0	23	3	20	9	Final qualification
2	Netherlands	3	2	0	0	1	32	4	28	6
3	Mexico	3	1	0	0	2	8	16	−8	3
4	Turkey	3	0	0	0	3	1	41	−40	0

7 October 2021
15:30

Poland

12–0
(5–0, 5–0, 2–0)

Turkey

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 250


			Referee: Nikoleta Celárová Linesmen: Claudia de la Pompa Viktoria Kozhevnikova

2 min	Penalties	6 min
57	Shots	1

7 October 2021
19:30

Netherlands

7–1
(1–0, 2–1, 4–0)

Mexico

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 50


			Referee: Radka Růžičková Linesmen: Natalia Suchanek Monika Szpyt

6 min	Penalties	14 min
47	Shots	6

8 October 2021
16:00

Turkey

0–23
(0–8, 0–6, 0–9)

Netherlands

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 50


			Referee: Svenja Strohmenger Linesmen: Claudia de la Pompa Monika Szpyt

6 min	Penalties	4 min
2	Shots	78

8 October 2021
20:00

Poland

8–1
(5–0, 1–1, 2–0)

Mexico

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 250


			Referee: Radka Růžičková Linesmen: Anja Klemm Viktoria Kozhevnikova

6 min	Penalties	12 min
64	Shots	3

10 October 2021
12:15

Netherlands

2–3
(0–0, 1–0, 1–3)

Poland

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 300


			Referee: Nikoleta Celárová Linesmen: Claudia de la Pompa Anja Klemm

18 min	Penalties	12 min
22	Shots	25

10 October 2021
16:15

Mexico

6–1
(1–0, 0–1, 5–0)

Turkey

Arena Pulaskiego, Bytom
Attendance: 50


			Referee: Svenja Strohmenger Linesmen: Natalia Suchanek Monika Szpyt

4 min	Penalties	2 min
49	Shots	5

Final qualification

Teams ranked 7th to 15th, plus three qualifiers played in three tournaments to determine qualifiers for the Olympic tournament. Each tournament winner was ranked by their qualification seeding and played in Group B as qualifier one, two, or three. These tournaments were scheduled to take place from 26 to 29 August 2021, but were postponed until 11 to 14 November 2021.^[4]