The IIHF has announced that 2021 men's Ice Hockey World Championship will be held from May 21-June 6 in Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia.

While the tournament typically begins in the first week of May, the IIHF moved the dates back  for next year's competition to accommodate to the later start dates of leagues in Europe and North America.

Featuring 16 teams in two groups of eight, Group A consists of host Belarus as well as Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark and Great Britain. Group B includes host Latvia, Canada, Finland, United States, Germany, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan.

This year's tournament, which was set to held in Switzerland, was cancelled due to the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

The IIHF also announced the proposed dates for other 2021 events.

The Women's World Championship will be hosted in Halifax and Truro, Nova Scotia where it was planned for 2020 before the cancellation. The proposed dates are April 7-17, 2021. Group A in Halifax consists of United States, Canada, Finland, Russia and Switzerland. Group B in Truro will include Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark and Hungary.

The U18 World Championship will take place in Plymouth and Ann Arbor in Michigan, at the same venues that were scheduled for this year with the proposed dates being April 15-25, 2021.

The 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship will be hosted by Linkoping and Mjolby in Sweden from January 5-12, 2021.