Could An Expanded Women's World Cup Of Hockey Be Viable Every Four Years?

Professsional women's hockey has one of the longest offseasons of any sport. It does however, open the door for offseason events, particularly on the international stage. This year, the 2026 World Championship will be moved to November to serve as a preseason tournament ahead of the PWHL season.

The 2026 tournament will also, for the first time since the earliest tournaments, see two equal groups, not two tiered groups of the top ten teams in the world. 

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With the event already shuffling between the top 13 nations in the world making appearances in recent seasons, and Russia set to return to international play the pool for women's hockey has never been deeper.

Could it be time for women's hockey to open the door a little wider and host a Women's World Cup of Hockey every four years? Placing it midway between Olympic years would be the obvious fit, and give global fans another reason to cheer. It could also be an opportunity to bring in more nations, expanding the reach to three pools of five, or four pools of four to make a 15-16 team tournament.

The event would of course feature the world's top teams in USA, Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Russia. Those eight nations would be the cornerstone to any new event. 

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The next tier of nations including Japan, Denmark, Hungary, France, Norway, Austria, Italy, and Slovakia would likely round out a 16 team tournament. 

There would undoubtedly be lopsided results in pool play, but it would also undoubtedly force participating nations to become more involved in women's hockey development.

Other nations including China, South Korea, Great Britain, and the Netherlands would be among those fighting for inclusion, and there are already Asian and soon-to-be European championships to help decide participants.

Women's hockey wouldn't need to follow the same rules as every other tournament. While the top two teams move on to the playoff round, the bottom eight could play a consolation side. 

The IIHF has been slow to bring in more women's competition, but moves are beginning to unfold.

Women's hockey was built on international events, and now it's being maintained by the PWHL. 

With the PWHL adopting an offseason that spans six months however, it's also left fans with an insatiable appetite for more, and feeling frustrated with the long and drawn out offseason.

A quadrennial World Cup of Hockey for the women's game wouldn't solve everything, but it would be a start. Even in the PWHL era, international play draws immense interest, and to continue to grow the game globally, and to put pressure on federations to develop girls and women's programming, getting the chance to see the best in the world every four years, even if they involve lopsided results, could be another step forward for the sport. 

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