| About world ice hockey championship | | | | Relegation Round |
| The IIHF World Championship is going to be the 74th | | | | The four last-placed teams will continue to play in the |
| time the world's best ice hockey nations will fight for | | | | Relegation Round. The two relegated teams will be |
| the champion title. 16 teams will play a total of 56 | | | | determined by round-robin. |
| games between May 7 and May 23, 2010. And as | | | | Qualifying Round |
| every year the tournament will start off with a | | | | Split into two groups, the twelve teams will play on - |
| preliminary round of four groups with four teams each. | | | | making for a further three games for each team. The |
| This year almost all matchups seem to be pretty | | | | points they won in preliminary groups against other |
| interesting to watch | | | | qualified teams will be added also in the qualifying |
| # Group A: Russia, Belarus, Slovakia, Kazakhstan | | | | group. |
| # Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Latvia, Italy | | | | Quarter-Finals |
| # Group C: Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway, France. | | | | Following the Qualifying Round, the four best placed |
| # Group D: Finland, USA, Germany, Denmark. | | | | teams in each group will compete in the four |
| The struggle between teams from Groups A and D is | | | | Quarter-final games. The two last-placed teams in |
| taking place in the LANXESS arena of Cologne | | | | each group drop out of the tournament. |
| (excluding the opening game Germany vs. USA in | | | | Semi-Finals |
| Gelsenkirchen). Groups B and C will be played in the | | | | The winners of the Quarter Finals will compete in the |
| SAP ARENA in Mannheim. | | | | two Semi-Final games. |
| Preliminary Round | | | | Bronze Medal Game |
| In the preliminary round every team will play against | | | | The two losers of the Semi-Finals will play each other |
| three opponents in it's group. The group's first three | | | | for third and fourth place, and the Bronze Medal. |
| teams will then move on to compete in the Qualifying | | | | Gold Medal Game |
| Round, but the last-placed team goes to the | | | | The winners of the Semi-Finals will compete in an |
| Relegation Round to play for stayin in it's division. | | | | ultimate game for the World Championship title. |