2015 IIHF World Championship

On 21 May 2010, the Czech bid was successful and got 84 votes in the race for hosting the 2015 IIHF World Championship. The application beat out that from Kyiv, Ukraine (22 votes).^[8]

The two venues for the tournament were the O2 Arena (formerly Sazka Arena) in Prague and ČEZ Aréna in Ostrava, the same two venues that co-hosted the 2004 IIHF World Championship. Before Ostrava was announced, Plzeň, Brno, Pardubice, and even Bratislava, Slovakia, were considered.^[9][10]

Prague	Prague Ostrava	Ostrava
O2 Arena Capacity: 17,383[11]		ČEZ Arena Capacity: 8,812[12]

Mascots: Bob and Bobek

Of the 16 teams in the tournament Czech Republic qualified as host while Austria and Slovenia qualified through the 2014 IIHF World Championship Division I, the rest qualified after a top 14 placement at the 2014 IIHF World Championship. The teams were divided into two groups of which the four best from each advanced to the quarterfinals. Here they met cross-over as indicated in the section below.^[13]

In the group round, points are awarded as follows:

• 3 points for a win in regulation time (W)
• 2 point for a team that drew in regulation time but won the following overtime (OTW) or game winning shots (GWS)^{[n 1]}
• 1 point for a team that drew and lost the above-mentioned competition (OTL)
• 0 points for a team that lost in regulation time (L)

If two or more teams finished with an equal number of points in the same group, their standings were determined by the following tiebreaking formula:^[13]

1. Points in games between the tied teams
2. Goal difference in games between the tied teams
3. Goals scored in games between the tied teams
4. Results against the closest best-ranking team outside the original group of tied teams
5. Results against the next highest ranking team outside the original group of tied teams
6. Tournament seedings

Final ranking: places 1–4 are determined by the medal games. Other places are determined by playoff positioning, group play positioning in the group, number of points, goal difference, goals scored, and tournament seeding. The two lowest ranking teams overall are relegated to Division I A.^[13]

The seeding in the preliminary round was based on the 2014 IIHF World Ranking, which ended at the conclusion of the 2014 IIHF World Championship. Slovakia and Switzerland swapped their slots between their groups to optimize the seeding for the Czech organizers.^[14]

Each team's roster consisted of at least 15 skaters (forwards and defencemen) and two goaltenders, and at most 22 skaters and three goaltenders. All 16 participating nations, through the confirmation of their respective national associations, had to submit a roster by the first IIHF directorate meeting.

The IIHF selected 16 referees and 16 linesmen to work the tournament.^[15][16]