The 2026 IIHF World Championship will be hosted by Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland from 15 to 31 May 2026, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced on 27 May 2022 in Tampere, Finland.

The only bidders were Kazakhstan and Switzerland.

Switzerland was originally slated to host in 2020 but the tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, while Kazakhstan has not hosted any tournaments.

In the end, on 27 May 2022, IIHF Congress awarded Switzerland rights to host the competition. No votes were needed, due to Kazakhstan's bid withdrawal earlier.

The seedings in the preliminary round was based on the 2025 IIHF World Ranking, at the end of the 2025 IIHF World Championship, using the serpentine system while allowing the organizers, "to allocate a maximum of two teams to separate groups".

The groups were announced on 4 June 2025, with the schedule being revealed on 19 August 2025.

There was a re-seeding after the quarterfinals.