2025 IIHF Asia Championship

For the women's tournament, see 2025 IIHF Women's Asia Championship.

The 2025 IIHF Asia Championship was an international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) as part of the IIHF Asia Championship Series. It was the first edition of this event. The tournament was played at Halyk Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 6 to 9 November 2024.^[1][2] Kazakhstan won the tournament after winning the group.^[3]

2025 IIHF Asia Championship

Tournament details
Host country	Kazakhstan
City	Almaty
Venue	1 (in 1 host city)
Dates	6–9 November 2024
Teams	4
Final positions
Champions	Kazakhstan (1st title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	South Korea
Fourth place	China
Tournament statistics
Games played	6
Goals scored	33 (5.5 per game)
Attendance	10,715 (1,786 per game)
Scoring leader	Taiga Irikura (5 points)
Official website
www.iihf.com
2026 →

All four teams fielded notably young rosters. Kazakhstan selected a squad composed largely of second-tier players from the VHL and the Pro Hokei Ligasy, while both Japan and South Korea introduced several new faces. China continued its recent policy of relying exclusively on domestic talent, with no naturalized players included.^[4]

Most teams had an average age under 25, with the exception of Kazakhstan, whose roster averaged 26.55 years. China featured the youngest team, with an average age of 24.09.^[5]

The youthful lineups contributed to a competitive tournament. South Korea managed to defeat Kazakhstan in the opening game 4-1 but failed to capitalize on the upset. On the other hand, China defeated South Korea for the first time in 18 years. The tournament drew an average attendance of 1,786 per game, in a venue with an approximate capacity of 3,000.^[6]

Creation

The tournament was first proposed in May 2023 after collaboration was agreed between China, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea with the IIHF to grow Asian Ice Hockey.^[7] The four nations have agreed to play this tournament for four years.

Venue

The venue was the Halyk Arena in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Almaty		Almaty
		Halyk Arena
		Capacity: 12,000

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Kazakhstan (H)	3	2	0	0	1	12	6	+6	6[a]
2	Japan	3	2	0	0	1	10	8	+2	6[a]
3	South Korea	3	1	0	1	1	7	8	−1	4
4	China	3	0	1	0	2	4	11	−7	2

Source: IIHF
(H) Host
Notes:

1. Kazakhstan 5–1 Japan

Match results

All times are local (Time in Kazakhstan – UTC+5).

6 November 2024 16:00

Japan

4–1 (2–1, 1–0, 1–0)

China

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 293

[Game reference 1]
	Eiki Sato	Goalies	Chen Shifeng	Referees: Chae Young-kin Konstantin Chubenko Linesmen: Timur Iskakov Vladislav Zotov
	Ushio (Takebe, Ishida) (PP) – 14:22 1–0 1–1 07:19 – Han (Yan, Wang J.) Tokoro (Kamada) – 14:57 2–1 Hanzawa (Kobayashi, Yoneyama) (PP) – 29:40 3–1 Isogai (Kobayashi, Yoneyama) (PP) – 57:28 4–1
	12 min	Penalties	12 min
	38	Shots	15

6 November 2024 19:30

South Korea

4–1 (0–0, 2–1, 2–0)

Kazakhstan

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 2,921

[Game reference 2]
	Lee Yeon-seung	Goalies	Jelal-ad-Din Amirbekov	Referees: Goro Terakado Johan Wedin Linesmen: Chi Hongda Choi Do-yeon
	Oh (Lee S., Lee H.) – 20:56 1–0 1–1 23:51 – Borissevich (Presnov) Jeong – 34:46 2–1 Kim G. (Kim Sa., Kang Y.) (EN) – 58:03 3–1 Kim Sa. (Kim G., Kang Y.) – 59:18 4–1
	6 min	Penalties	2 min
	20	Shots	28

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8 November 2024 16:00

Japan

5–2 (2–0, 2–2, 1–0)

South Korea

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 715

[Game reference 3]
	Takayuki Ito	Goalies	Lee Yeon-seung	Referees: Konstantin Chubenko Liu Jiaqi Linesmen: Nurian Alpyspayev Vladislav Mashenkin
	Takebe (Ando, Ishida) (PP) – 12:45 1–0 Irikura (Hanzawa, Yoneyama) (PP) – 15:33 2–0 Irikura (Hanzawa, Ishida) – 23:11 3–0 3–1 23:46 – Lee S. (Lee H.) 3–2 27:35 – Kang M. (Nam, Kang Y.) (PP) Irikura (Isogai, Kobayashi) (PP) – 29:48 4–2 Isogai (Hanzawa, Irikura) – 43:42 5–2
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	33	Shots	30

8 November 2024 19:30

Kazakhstan

6–1 (1–0, 1–1, 4–0)

China

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 2,283

[Game reference 4]
	Amirbekov	Goalies	Sun Zehao	Referees: Chae Young-jin Goro Terakado Linesmen: Damir Dairov Ryohma Taniguchi
	Breus (Grents, Rymarev) (PP) – 16:34 1–0 1–1 26:52 – Zheng (Hou, Zhang P.) Buyalski (Korolinskiy) – 30:32 2–1 Grents (Rymarev) – 44:13 3–1 Korolinskiy (Breus, Zubov) – 44:53 4–1 Breus (Buyalskiy) (PP) – 50:26 5–1 Breus (Grents, Rymarev) – 56:52 6–1
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	47	Shots	21

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9 November 2024 16:00

China

2–1 OT (1–1, 0–0, 0–0) (OT: 1–0)

South Korea

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 1,408

[Game reference 5]
	Chen Shifeng	Goalies	Ha Jung-ho	Referees: Chae Young-jin Liu Jiaqi Linesmen: Timur Iskakov Vladislav Mashenkin
	Hou (Wang J., Yan) (PP) – 02:43 1–0 1–1 07:40 – Kim Sa. (Kwon, Nam) Zhang Z. (Zhang J., Zhang P.) (PP) – 61:45 2–1
	2 min	Penalties	4 min
	24	Shots	38

9 November 2024 19:30

Kazakhstan

5–1 (1–0, 2–0, 2–1)

Japan

Halyk Arena, Almaty Attendance: 3,095

[Game reference 6]
	Jelal-ad-Din Amirbekov	Goalies	Issa Otsuka	Referees: Konstantin Chubenko Johan Wedin Linesmen: Chi Hongda Choi Do-yeon
	Rymarev (Borissevich, Grents) – 07:16 1–0 Rymarev (Alexandrov) – 27:47 2–0 Namestnikov (Korolinskiy) – 29:11 3–0 3–1 42:51 – Irikura (Hanzawa, Kobayashi) (PP) Grebenshikov (Volkov, Korolinskiy) – 44:58 4–1 Korolinskiy (EN) – 58:26 5–1
	6 min	Penalties	6 min
	23	Shots	24