International ice hockey fans showed great interest in the Ice Hockey World Championship, which will be hosted by the Czech Republic from May 10 to 26, 2024.
While tickets go on public sale in October (the first phase on October 10), IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) has announced that they received over 100,000 applications during the second phase of the draw. This allows fans to obtain the priority right to purchase tickets for the championship. Those interested in the games still have time to register for the draw until Friday, September 15 via the registration link here. Participants are expected to select their preferred teams and preferred game days.
All applicants will be informed of the results via e-mail by September 24. The sales system will be accessible to the successful participants between October 2 and 4. Unsold tickets will be available to all registrants (excluding the winners from the first round) in the second phase of the priority purchase from October 6 to 8. The second phase will work on a first-come, first-serve basis. Winners will be able to choose up to six daily tickets for a specific game day.
The first category daily packages, specifically for Czech and Slovak games, can be purchased starting at 2,080 CZK ($91.27) for the third price category to 4,480 CZK ($196.58) for the first price category, whereas a daily package for the foreign teams starts at 1,180 CZK ($51.81) for the third price category. Daily packages include two or three games.
The federation revealed games between the Czech team against Finland, as well as Norway against Switzerland on the opening day of the 2024 IIHF WM, as the most frequently preferred daily package, based on a total number of almost 35,000 registrations they received.
“About a thousand preferences less has the second most frequently chosen option which is the daily package with the games of the Czech team against Canada, and Finland against Switzerland,” organizers said. “Almost 25,000 users would like to attend the games opposing Czechia vs. Switzerland and Norway vs. Finland games.”
Teams will compete in the tournament at two venues: O2 Arena in Prague and Ostravar Arena in another city of Czechia, Ostrava, which have a capacity of 18,000 and 10,004, respectively. In August, the federation released the game schedule, as well as the pricing categories for daily tickets.
According to the schedule, Czechia will play their opening game against Finland in Prague Arena on Friday, May 10 at 20:20 local time. Switzerland-Norway will play the first game in the afternoon. The other teams in Group A will start the tournament the next day with the following games: Great Britain-Canada, Austria-Denmark and Norway-Czechia.
In Ostrava Arena, Slovakia will play Germany in the Group B opening game on Friday, May 10 at 16:20 local time and Sweden will play team USA in the evening. The next day ,France-Kazakhstan, Poland-Latvia and USA-Germany will battle it out at Ostrava Arena.
