Six teams set for Division I Group A in Romania

Sfantu Gheorghe, a city of 50,000 people located in a valley between two mountain ranges in Transylvania, is the site of the 2025 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A tournament. This year’s field of six teams includes one – Ukraine – that was promoted by winning Division I Group B last year, two – Great Britain and Poland – that were relegated from the elite division of last year’s Worlds, and three – Italy, Japan and host Romania – that are returnees from last year’s Group A in Bolzano.

Between 27 April and 3 May, the six teams will play a round-robin tournament – one game against each of the other teams. After five games, the top two teams will earn advancement to the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland, teams three through five will return to Group A next year and the sixth-place team will be relegated to Group B.

Great Britain, Italy and Poland will be considered among the favourites to advance, Japan and Ukraine will set their sights on avoiding relegation and, based on past results, host Romania could figure into either of those groups or fall somewhere in the middle. While some teams will be favoured more than others, it’s important to remember that this group is always very competitive and there always seems to be at least one team that surprises, so nothing is for sure.

Ordered according to the IIHF World Ranking, here are the six teams:

Great Britain

Once a regular participant in Division I, the Brits have played four of their last five World Championships in the elite division, and anything less than earning a return trip next year will be a bitter disappointment. The good news is they have won their last three Division I tournaments – either Group A or B – dating back to 2017. This team is full of high-level international experience led by netminder Ben Bowns, defenceman Ben O’Connor and captain Robert Dowd. If Eisbaren Berlin wrap up the DEL title on Friday, Liam Kirk might be able to join Team GB for the start of the tournament.

Italy

The Italians had high hopes of advancing last year on home ice but fell just short in a tight race. Having qualified for next year’s Winter Olympics as hosts, they would dearly love to improve upon last year’s showing and return to the elite division for the first time since 2022. To that end, the hiring of three-time World Champion Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen should be a step in the right direction. Returning in goal is 20-year-old…