# Ice hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Women's qualification

Qualification for the women's tournament at the 2018 Winter Olympics determined by the IIHF World Ranking following the 2016 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships. The top five teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, South Korea has received an automatic berth as host, and all other member nations had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining two spots.

## Qualified teams

| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Hosts | 19 September 2014 | Tenerife | 1 | South Korea |
| 2016 IIHF World Ranking | 7 December 2012 – 10 April 2016 | Kamloops | 5 | United States Canada Finland Russia Sweden |
| Final qualification tournament | 9–12 February 2017 | Arosa | 1 | Switzerland |
| Final qualification tournament | 9–12 February 2017 | Tomakomai | 1 | Japan |
| TOTAL | | | 8 | |

### Notes

* $^a$ After talks in Panmunjom on 17 January 2018, a unified Korean team consisting of players from both North Korea and South Korea was created to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
* $^b$ The 2016 IIHF World Ranking includes the following events: 2013 World Championship, 2014 Winter Olympic Games, 2014 World Championship, 2015 World Championship and 2016 World Championship
* $^c$ Kamloops was the site for 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship; at the conclusion of the tournament the ranking was finalized with regards to the qualification slots.
* $^d$ In December 2017, the IOC suspended Russia from competing at the Winter Olympics as part of its sanctions following state-sponsored doping allegations. Russian athletes deemed clean were permitted to compete as Olympic Athletes from Russia.

## Qualification seeding

To qualify directly, a nation had to be ranked in the top five following the 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship. Using the IIHF World Ranking points system, the 2016 received full value, and each preceding year was worth 25% less. Teams that wished to compete must apply in "early spring of 2016". The following is a ranking based on points accumulated toward Olympic qualification of all countries.
Points were earned based on overall finish, available points for 2016 were as follows:
| Place | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ... |
| Points | 1200 | 1160 | 1120 | 1100 | 1060 | 1040 | 1020 | 1000 | 960 | 940 | 920 | 900 | 880 | 860 | 840 | 820 | 800 | 780 | 760 | 740 | ... |
| 1–5 | Qualified directly to Olympic Tournament |
| 6–11 | Entered qualifying in the final round |
| 12–17 | Entered qualifying in the preliminary round 3 |
| 18–24 | Entered qualifying in the preliminary round 2 |
| 25–27 | Entered qualifying in the preliminary round 1 |
| Seeding | Team | WC 2016 | WC 2015 | WC 2014 | OLY 2014 | WC 2013 | Total |
| 1 | United States | 1200 | 900 | 580 | 580 | 300 | 3560 |
| 2 | Canada | 1160 | 870 | 600 | 600 | 290 | 3520 |
| 3 | Finland | 1100 | 840 | 530 | 530 | 275 | 3275 |
| 4 | Russia | 1120 | 825 | 520 | 520 | 280 | 3265 |
| 5 | Sweden | 1060 | 795 | 550 | 550 | 255 | 3210 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 1020 | 780 | 560 | 560 | 260 | 3180 |
| 7 | Japan | 1000 | 765 | 500 | 500 | 240 | 3005 |
| 8 | Germany | 960 | 750 | 510 | 510 | 265 | 2995 |
| 9 | Czech Republic | 1040 | 720 | 480 | 480 | 250 | 2970 |
| 10 | Denmark | 900 | 675 | 460 | 470 | 235 | 2740 |
| 11 | Austria | 920 | 705 | 440 | 420 | 225 | 2710 |
| 12 | France | 940 | 690 | 450 | 410 | 210 | 2700 |
| 13 | Norway | 880 | 660 | 470 | 460 | 220 | 2690 |
| 14 | Slovakia | 860 | 630 | 430 | 440 | 230 | 2590 |
| 15 | Latvia | 820 | 645 | 420 | 370 | 215 | 2470 |
| 16 | China | 760 | 600 | 410 | 450 | 195 | 2415 |
| 17 | Hungary | 840 | 585 | 400 | 360 | 180 | 2365 |
| 18 | Kazakhstan | 800 | 540 | 370 | 430 | 190 | 2330 |
| 19 | Netherlands | 740 | 615 | 390 | 380 | 205 | 2330 |
| 20 | Italy | 780 | 570 | 360 | 400 | 175 | 2285 |
| 21 | Great Britain | 680 | 525 | 350 | 390 | 185 | 2130 |
| 22 | Poland | 720 | 495 | 340 | 350 | 160 | 2065 |
| Hosts | South Korea | 700 | 510 | 330 | 320 | 150 | 2010 |
| 23 | Slovenia | 640 | 450 | 290 | 340 | 155 | 1875 |
| 24 | Croatia | 620 | 480 | 300 | 310 | 140 | 1850 |
| 25 | North Korea | 660 | 555 | 380 | 0 | 200 | 1795 |
| 26 | Spain | 580 | 420 | 280 | 330 | 145 | 1755 |
| 27 | Australia | 600 | 390 | 310 | 0 | 170 | 1470 |
| 28 | New Zealand | 520 | 465 | 320 | 0 | 165 | 1470 |
| 29 | Iceland | 560 | 405 | 270 | 0 | 135 | 1370 |
| 30 | Turkey | 500 | 360 | 250 | 0 | 120 | 1230 |
| 31 | Mexico | 540 | 435 | 240 | 0 | 0 | 1215 |
| 32 | South Africa | 440 | 330 | 230 | 0 | 125 | 1125 |
| 33 | Bulgaria | 420 | 315 | 220 | 0 | 115 | 1070 |
| 34 | Hong Kong | 460 | 345 | 210 | 0 | 0 | 1015 |
| 35 | Belgium | 0 | 375 | 260 | 0 | 130 | 765 |
| 36 | Romania | 480 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 480 |
* Ireland is not listed despite having achieved ranking points because they are not currently participating.
* Nations with no shading chose not to participate in Olympic qualifying.

## Preliminary round 1

This round was played from 7 to 9 October 2016 in Mexico City. The winner advanced to the preliminary round 2 as qualifier seven.

### Group J

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Mexico (H) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 5 | +19 | 6 | Preliminary round 2 |
| 2 | Turkey | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 3 | |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 21 | −19 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC–5).

## Preliminary round 2

This round was played between 3–6 November 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan and San Sebastián, Spain. The winner of each group advanced to the preliminary round 3 as qualifiers five and six, ranked according their seeding.

### Group G

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Kazakhstan (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 9 | Preliminary round 3 |
| 2 | Poland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Great Britain | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Mexico | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+6).

### Group H

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Italy | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | +13 | 9 | Preliminary round 3 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 6 | |
| 3 | Spain (H) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Slovenia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 27 | −24 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

## Preliminary round 3

Two round robins were played between 15 and 18 December 2016 in Cergy-Pontoise France, and Stavanger Norway. The winners of each advanced to the final qualification tournaments as qualifiers three and four, ranked according to their seeding.

### Group E

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | France (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 9 | Final qualification |
| 2 | Italy | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 6 | |
| 3 | Latvia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 3 | |
| 4 | China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

### Group F

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Norway (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | +13 | 9 | Final qualification |
| 2 | Hungary | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Slovakia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 13 | −11 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

## Final qualification

Two round robins were played from 9 to 12 February 2017 in Arosa, Switzerland and Tomakomai, Japan. The two group winners qualified for the Olympic tournament Group B.

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Switzerland (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 3 | +11 | 9 | 2018 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 6 | |
| 3 | Norway | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 10 | −4 | 3 | |
| 4 | Denmark | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 15 | −10 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Japan (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 3 | +10 | 9 | 2018 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Germany | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 5 | |
| 3 | France | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | Austria | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 13 | −10 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+9).