HELSINKI – Prior to the start of the 2012 IIHF Annual Congress on Friday the first venues for the Olympic Qualification tournaments have been confirmed.

The top-seeded team of each tournament has the right to host it and many nations announced to make use of this rule.

The three groups of the Final Olympic Qualification for the men’s ice hockey tournament in Sochi 2014 will be staged 7-10 February 2013 in Germany, Latvia and Denmark. The event in Latvia will be hosted at the Arena Riga while the cities in Germany and Denmark will be confirmed in the upcoming weeks.

Seeding:
Group D: Germany, Austria, Italy, Qualifier from Olympic Pre-Qualification
Group E: Latvia, France, Kazakhstan, Qualifier from Olympic Pre-Qualification
Group F: Denmark, Belarus, Slovenia, Qualifier from Olympic Pre-Qualification

The following nine countries are already pre-qualified according to the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Ranking: Finland, Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Canada, United States, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland.

The two groups of the Final Olympic Qualification for the women’s ice hockey tournament in Sochi 2014 will take place 7-10 February 2013 in Bratislava, Slovakia and in a German city to be determined.

Seeding:
Group C: Slovakia, Norway, Japan, Qualifier from Olympic Pre-Qualification
Group D: Germany, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Qualifier from Olympic Pre-Qualification

The following six countries are already pre-qualified according to the 2012 IIHF Women’s World Ranking: Canada, United States, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia.

Click here for more information on the qualification process for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The complete list of groups and venues of the Olympic Qualification as well as the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship program will be finalized during the 2012 IIHF Annual Congress and be published on IIHF.com.