WCH U20 IA 2025/26

The IIHF World U20 Championship Division IA operates as the second tier of the international under-20 ice hockey structure, positioned directly below the Top Division. Organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features six national teams competing in a round-robin format. The host country changes annually; for the 2025 edition, played in December 2024, the host was Slovenia in Bled. The participating teams for this edition were Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Kazakhstan, and Norway.

Promotion and relegation rules dictate that the top two teams from Division IA are promoted to the IIHF World U20 Championship Top Division, while the last-place team is relegated to Division IB. Conversely, the winner of Division IB is promoted to Division IA. Historically, Germany is the most successful nation in the broader Division I era with seven titles. In the specific Division IA era, Norway holds the record with three titles won in 2013, 2023, and 2026. The current champion of Division IA is Denmark, which won the 2025 tournament held in Slovenia, defeating Austria in a decisive match. Austria finished as runner-up.

The competition has undergone several structural and naming changes. It began as the unofficial B-series in 1974, with the first official B-series tournament held in 1979. In 1999, the IIHF restructured the lower divisions, splitting the single Division I pool into Group A and Group B. The specific naming convention "Division IA" was adopted later, around 2003–2004, aligning with the senior World Championship format. A major restructuring occurred in 2012, when Division I was formally split into two distinct tiers: Division IA and Division IB, with separate promotion and relegation paths for each.