# Ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's qualification

Eight teams qualified for the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The top six teams in the IIHF World Ranking after the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 13th and below were divided into two groups where they played in a first qualification round in September 2008. The two group winners from the round advanced to the second qualification round, where the teams ranked 7th through 12th joined them. In the second qualifying round, played in November 2008, the teams were again divided into two groups. The two group winners China and Slovakia advanced to the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament.

## Qualified teams

| Event | Date | Location | Vacancies | Qualified |
| 2008 IIHF World Ranking | 30 March 2004 – 13 April 2008 | Harbin | 6 | Canada United States Finland Sweden Switzerland Russia |
| Final qualification tournament 1 | 6–9 November 2008 | Bad Tölz | 1 | Slovakia |
| Final qualification tournament 2 | 6–9 November 2008 | Shanghai | 1 | China |
| TOTAL | | | 8 | |

### Notes

* $^a$ 2008 IIHF World Ranking were comprising the following events: 2005 World Championships, 2006 Winter Olympic Games, 2007 World Championships and 2008 World Championships.
* $^b$ Harbin was the site for 2008 World Championship; at the conclusion of the tournament the ranking were finalized with regards to the qualification slots.
* $^c$ Canada, USA and Sweden had already mathematically qualified after the 2007 World Championships.

## IIHF World Ranking

* Qualified directly to Olympic Tournament
* Final qualification tournament
* Pre-qualification tournament
| Rank | Team | WC 2008 (100%) | WC 2007 (75%) | OLY 2006 (50%) | WC 2005 (25%) | Total |
| 1 | Canada | 1160 | 1200 | 1200 | 1160 | 2950 |
| 2 | United States | 1200 | 1160 | 1120 | 1200 | 2930 |
| 3 | Finland | 1120 | 1100 | 1100 | 1100 | 2770 |
| 4 | Sweden | 1060 | 1120 | 1160 | 1120 | 2760 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 1100 | 1060 | 1020 | 960 | 2645 |
| 6 | Russia | 1040 | 1020 | 1040 | 1000 | 2575 |
| 7 | Germany | 980 | 1000 | 1060 | 1060 | 2525 |
| 8 | China | 1000 | 1040 | 940 | 1040 | 2510 |
| 9 | Japan | 1020 | 940 | 920 | 940 | 2420 |
| 10 | Kazakhstan | 940 | 980 | 960 | 1020 | 2410 |
| 11 | France | 880 | 900 | 880 | 900 | 2220 |
| 12 | Czech Republic | 900 | 860 | 860 | 920 | 2205 |
| 13 | Latvia | 840 | 920 | 900 | 860 | 2195 |
| 14 | Norway | 860 | 880 | 840 | 840 | 2150 |
| 15 | Italy | 760 | 800 | 1000 | 820 | 2065 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 680 | 720 | 820 | 720 | 1810 |
| 17 | Slovakia | 920 | 820 | | 800 | 1735 |
| 18 | Denmark | 800 | 840 | | 880 | 1650 |
| 19 | Austria | 820 | 760 | | 760 | 1580 |
| 20 | North Korea | 780 | 780 | | 780 | 1560 |
| 21 | Netherlands | 740 | 740 | | 740 | 1480 |
| 22 | Australia | 720 | 700 | | 640 | 1405 |
| 23 | Great Britain | 700 | 680 | | 700 | 1385 |
| 24 | Belgium | 640 | 660 | | 680 | 1305 |
| 25 | Hungary | 620 | 640 | | 660 | 1265 |
| 26 | South Korea | 600 | 620 | | 600 | 1215 |
| 27 | New Zealand | 560 | 540 | | 580 | 1110 |
| 28 | South Africa | 500 | 600 | | 620 | 1105 |
| 29 | Romania | 540 | 560 | | 560 | 1100 |
| 30 | Croatia | 660 | 580 | | | 1095 |
| 31 | Iceland | 580 | 500 | | 540 | 1090 |
| 32 | Estonia | 520 | 520 | | | 910 |
| 33 | Turkey | 480 | 480 | | | 840 |
| | Bulgaria | | | | | 0 |

## Pre-qualification tournaments

The following teams were ranked 13th and below in the IIHF World Ranking. They were seeded according to their ranking, with the two group winners advancing to the final qualification tournaments.

### Group A

Games were played in Liepāja, Latvia.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Slovakia | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105 | 2 | +103 | 12 | Final qualification tournament |
| 2 | Latvia (H) | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 53 | 3 | +50 | 9 | |
| 3 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 8 | +43 | 6 | |
| 4 | Croatia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 36 | −5 | 3 | |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 192 | −191 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

### Group B

Games were played in Maribor, Slovenia.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Norway | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | +17 | 9 | Final qualification tournament |
| 2 | Great Britain | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 5 | |
| 3 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 5 | +5 | 4 | |
| 4 | Slovenia (H) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 27 | −25 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+2).

## Final Qualification Tournaments

By being ranked 7 through 12 in the final 2008 IIHF World Rankings, the following teams qualified for the qualification tournament. There were two winners from these tournaments that advanced to the Olympic tournament.

### Group C

Games were played in Bad Tölz, Germany.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Slovakia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 | 2010 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Kazakhstan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 6 | |
| 3 | Germany (H) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 3 | |
| 4 | France | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | −12 | 0 | |
All times are local (UTC+1).

### Group D

Games were played in Shanghai, China.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | China (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 | 2010 Winter Olympics |
| 2 | Japan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Norway | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 2 | |
| 4 | Czech Republic | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 1 | |
All times are local (UTC+8).