Who's getting promoted to the 2024 World Juniors? Norway earns advancement to top IIHF U20 championship

Bryan Murphy

Who's getting promoted to the 2024 World Juniors? Norway earns advancement to top IIHF U20 championship image

The World Juniors that everyone is familiar with consists of the 10 best U20 teams in the world, meeting around the holidays for the right to be crowned World Juniors champion. 

However, that's not the only World Junior Championship that occurs through the IIHF. There are Division I A and B and Division II A and B tournaments that also occur, with some of the smaller countries sending teams in the hopes of advancing year after year. 

It's not the same 10 teams year after year that compete at the top tournament of the World Juniors. While an exception was made between the 2022 and 2023 games, typically one team is relegated down a level and one is promoted to the top competition. This rewards those teams who have succeeded at the Division I A tournament and gives incentives for teams at the top level to not finish last. 

MORE: 2023 World Juniors schedule, standings, results

The Division I A tournament concluded on Dec. 17, meaning that we already know one team that we will see at the 2024 World Juniors. 

Who is promoted to the 2024 World Juniors?

Every year, the IIHF has one country promoted to the World Juniors tournament and one country is relegated to Division I A, the second tier of the IIHF U20 championships. From 2022 to 2023, an exception was made considering the unique timing of the 2022 event, so there were no relegations/promotions for the 2023 games. 

Norway finished as the top team at the World Juniors Division I A tournament, meaning they will be promoted to the top competition for 2024. The team won all five of their games at the Division I A tournament and will be one of the 10 teams at the 2023 competition. 

Austria lost to Latvia in the relegation series at the 2023 World Juniors. Therefore, Latvia stays at the top tournament and Austria is demoted to Division I A, with Norway replacing the Austria. 

World Juniors 2024 groups

At the conclusion of the 2023 World Juniors, the IIHF announced the groups for the 2024 tournament. These are based on the final rankings of the 2023 tournament. 

Here are those groups:

Group A

Canada

Sweden

Finland

Germany

Latvia

Group B

Czechia

USA

Slovakia

Switzerland

Norway

Where are the 2024 World Juniors?

Gothenburg, Sweden will be the next site for the World Juniors. It is the first time since 2014 that Sweden will host the tournament and the first time Gothenburg will act as a host city. 

The country was initially scheduled to have the 2022 tournament, but due to COVID restrictions, they swapped spots with Canada, taking their place as the hosts for 2024.

What cities are hosting the World Juniors in the future?

The IIHF previously announced the host countries all the way until the 2032 tournament, however, the host cities are only known for the next two tournaments. 

YEAR CITY COUNTRY
2024 Gothenburg Sweden
2025 TBD United States
2026 TBD Canada
2027 TBD Finland
2028 TBD Czech Republic
2029 TBD Canada
2030 TBD United States
2031 TBD Russia
2032 TBD Canada

What country has won the most medals?

Canada enters the 2023 tournament with the most gold medals of all time. The 2022 win marked the 19th gold medal for the country. 

But Russia, which is not participating in the 2023 World Juniors, owns the most total medals with 37. It has won the most silver and bronze medals out of any country. 

The United States is tied for the third-most gold medals with Finland and owns the sixth-most total medals. 

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Russia* 13 13 11 37
Canada 19 10 5 34
Sweden 2 11 7 20
Finland 5 5 7 17
Czech Republic+ 2 5 7 14
United States 5 2 6 13
Slovakia 0 0 2 2
Switzerland 0 0 1 1

* Includes medals won as the Soviet Union and CIS
+ Includes medals won as Czechoslovakia

List of all the World Juniors winners

The last winner to be crowned the World Juniors champion was Canada, which took down Finland in overtime of the gold-medal game. 

Mason McTavish swiped away a puck on the goal line early in overtime to prevent Finland from claiming the 2022 World Juniors. A minute later, Kent Johnson buried the game-winning goal. 

Here is a list of every medalist for each year of the tournament. 

Year Location Gold Silver Bronze
2022 Edmonton, Canada Canada Finland Sweden
2021 Edmonton, Canada United States Canada Finland
2020 Ostrava/Trinec, Czech Republic Canada Russia Sweden
2019 Vancouver/Victoria, Canada Finland United States Russia
2018 Buffalo, N.Y., United States Canada Sweden United States
2017 Montreal/Toronto, Canada United States Canada Russia
2016 Helsinki, Finland Finland Russia United States
2015 Montreal/Toronto, Canada Canada Russia Slovakia
2014 Malmo, Sweden Finland Sweden Russia
2013 Ufa, Russia United States Sweden Russia
2012 Calgary/Edmonton, Canada Sweden Russia Canada
2011 Buffalo/Niagara, N.Y., United States Russia   Canada   United States
2010 Regina/Saskatoon, Canada United States Canada   Sweden  
2009 Ottawa, Canada Canada   Sweden   Russia  
2008 Pardubice/Liberec, Czech Republic Canada   Sweden   Russia  
2007 Leksand/Mora, Sweden Canada   Russia   United States
2006 Kamloops/Kelowna/Vancouver, Canada Canada   Russia   Finland  
2005 Grand Forks, N.D./Thief River Falls, Minn., United States Canada   Russia   Czech Republic  
2004 Helsinki/Hameenlinna, Finland United States Canada   Finland  
2003 Halifax/Sydney, Canada Russia   Canada   Finland  
2002 Pardubice/Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic Russia   Canada   Finland  
2001 Moscow/Podolsk, Russia Czech Republic   Finland   Canada  
2000 Skelleftea/Umea, Sweden Czech Republic   Russia   Canada  
1999 Winnipeg, Canada Russia   Canada   Slovakia  
1998 Helsinki/Hameenlinna, Finland Finland   Russia   Switzerland  
1997 Geneva/Morges, Switzerland Canada   United States Russia  
1996 Boston, Mass., United States Canada   Sweden   Russia  
1995 Red Deer, Canada Canada   Russia   Sweden  
1994 Ostrava/Frydek-Mistek, Czech Republic Canada   Sweden   Russia  
1993 Gavle/Fulun, Sweden Canada   Sweden   Czechoslovakia  
1992 Fussen/Kaufbeuren, Germany CIS   Sweden   United States
1991 Saskatoon, Canada Canada   Soviet Union   Czechoslovakia  
1990 Helsinki/Turku, Finland Canada   Soviet Union   Czechoslovakia  
1989 Anchorage, Alaska, United States Soviet Union   Sweden   Czechoslovakia  
1988 Moscow, Soviet Union Canada   Soviet Union   Finland  
1987 Piestany, Czechoslovakia Finland   Czechoslovakia   Sweden  
1986 Hamilton, Canada Soviet Union   Canada   United States
1985 Helsinki/Turku, Finland Canada   Czechoslovakia   Soviet Union  
1984 Nykoping, Sweden Soviet Union   Finland   Czechoslovakia  
1983 Leningrad, Soviet Union Soviet Union   Czechoslovakia   Canada  
1982 Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., United States Canada   Czechoslovakia   Finland  
1981 Fussen/Augsburg, Germany Sweden   Finland   Soviet Union  
1980 Helsinki, Finland Soviet Union   Finland   Sweden  
1979 Karlstad, Sweden Soviet Union   Czechoslovakia   Sweden  
1978 Montreal, Canada Soviet Union   Sweden   Canada  
1977 Bystrica-Zvolen, Czechoslovakia Soviet Union   Canada   Czechoslovakia  
1976* Tampere, Finland Soviet Union   Canada   Czechoslovakia  
1975* U.S./Canada Soviet Union   Canada   Sweden  
1974* Leningrad, Soviet Union Soviet Union   Finland   Canada 

* - IIHF began officially sponsoring World Junior Championship in 1977

Bryan Murphy

Bryan Murphy Photo

Bryan Murphy joined The Sporting News in 2022 as the NHL/Canada content producer. Previously he worked for NBC Sports on their national news desk reporting on breaking news for the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, in addition to covering the 2020 and 2022 Olympic Games. A graduate of Quinnipiac University, he spent time in college as a beat reporter covering the men’s ice hockey team.