IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia

The IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia or IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia or IIHF University Challenge Cup of Asia (also Asian Cup or Asian Ice Hockey Championship ) is an international ice hockey tournament that has been held since 2008. The tournament is organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF and serves to ensure that national teams from the Asian continent who do not take part in the Ice Hockey World Championship or play in the lowest division there have international comparisons with opponents of similar strength.

Since the Challenge Cup was introduced in 2008, several national teams have been introduced to the World Cup - the United Arab Emirates , the Republic of China (Taiwan) , Kuwait , Hong Kong , Kyrgyzstan and Thailand , from 2021 also Malaysia , the Philippines and Singapore - while Mongolia in favor of the Challenge Cups did not participate in the World Cup.

In addition to the tournament for the men's national teams, there have also been tournaments for select teams for women and universities since 2010. In 2012, junior tournaments in the U18 and U20 age groups were held for the first time. With a corresponding number of participants, the tournaments are sometimes held in two divisions, with the lower performance class being referred to as Division 1 .

With the Development Cup , a similar competition for national teams from Europe, North Africa and South America has existed since 2017.

Attendees

The strongest Asian associations - Kazakhstan , Japan , People's Republic of China , South Korea , North Korea , Israel - do not take part in the Challenge Cup.

Participant overview and successes

IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia (men)

nation	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	Participation
Republic of China (Taiwan)	1	-	1	-	5	1	1	1	1	*	*	*	07th
Hong Kong	3	4th	5	1	-	2	5 *	*	*	*	*	*	06th
India	-	8th	-	6th	6th	10	10	11	10	7th	9	-	09
Indonesia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	5	02
Qatar	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	-	-	-	01
Kyrgyzstan	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	8th	6th	-	-	*	03
Kuwait	-	-	7th	4th	4th	4th	6th	6th	-	6th	5 *	*	08th
Macau	6th	7th	8th	5	7th	8th	7th	5	8th	9	7th	6th	12
Malaysia	2	3	4th	-	3	7th	-	10	7th	5	6th	4th	10
Mongolia	*	5	6 *	-	*	3 *	3	3	3	2	1	1	09
Oman	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	-	8th	-	7th	03
Philippines	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	2	02
Singapore	5	6th	9	-	-	9	9	7th	5	4th	4th	3	10
Thailand	4th	2	3	3	2	5	4th	4th	4th	3	2	*	11
United Arab Emirates	-	1	2 *	2	1	6 *	2 *	2 *	2	1*	*	*	09

Italic: Participation in Division I.

* : (additional) participation in the world championship

IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia (women)

nation	2010	2011	2012	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	Participation
Australia	-	-	-	4th	-	-	-	-	-	1
Republic of China (Taiwan)	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-	-	2
Republic of China (Taiwan) U18	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	2
People's Republic of China	1	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	4th
People's Republic of China II	4th	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
Hong Kong	-	-	-	5	3	-	-	-	-	2
India	-	-	-	-	-	5	4th	8th	8th	4th
Japan	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
Kuwait	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	1
Malaysia	-	-	-	-	-	4th	7th	5	5	4th
New Zealand U18	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	2	4th	3
North Korea	3	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	2
Philippines	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	7th	6th	3
Singapore	-	-	-	7th	-	3	3	4th	3	5
South Korea	-	3	4th	3	-	-	-	-	-	3
Thailand	-	-	-	6th	2	2	2	3	1	6th
United Arab Emirates	-	-	-	8th	-	-	6th	6th	7th	4th

Italic: Participation in Division I.

Previous tournament winners

IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia (men)

The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

year	Attendees	winner	venue
2008	6th	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Hong Kong , People's Republic of China
2009	8th	United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
2010	9	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Taipei , Republic of China (Taiwan)
2011	6th	Hong Kong	Kuwait City , Kuwait
2012	7th	United Arab Emirates	Dehradun , India
2013	10	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Bangkok , Thailand
2014	6 + 4	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
2015	5 + 6	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Taipei , Republic of China (Taiwan)
2016	5 + 5	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates
2017	5 + 4	United Arab Emirates	Bangkok , Thailand
2018	5 + 4	Mongolia	Pasay , Philippines
2019	7th	Mongolia	Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
2021

IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia (women)

In contrast to the men, only the three strongest countries China, Japan and North Korea (as well as some of the B team from China) initially took part in the women’s tournament, which was introduced in 2010. In 2014 Division I of the weaker teams was introduced. The strongest teams have not participated since 2015; For the time being, only Division I was held. In 2017 the designation Division I was omitted, from 2018 onwards the division was again divided into top division and division I. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

year	Attendees	winner	venue
2010	4th	People's Republic of China	Shanghai , People's Republic of China
12011 1	3	Japan	Nikko , Japan
2012	4th	Japan	Qiqihar , People's Republic of China
2014	4 + 4	People's Republic of China	Harbin , People's Republic of China
22015 2	3	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Taipei , Republic of China (Taiwan)
2016	5	Republic of China (Taiwan)	Taipei , Republic of China (Taiwan)
2017	7th	New Zealand U18	Bangkok , Thailand
2018	4 + 4	Republic of China (Taiwan) U18	Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
2019	5 + 4	Thailand	Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates

¹The tournament, officially called the IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia 2011 , took place in November 2010.

²The tournament, officially called the IIHF Women's Challenge Cup of Asia 2015 , took place in November 2014.

IIHF University / U20 Challenge Cup of Asia

In 2010 and 2011 the tournament was played as the University Challenge Cup , and since 2012 as the U20 Challenge Cup . The 2020 tournaments have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

year	Attendees	winner	venue
2010	3	Japan	Seoul , South Korea
2011	4th	Japan	Changchun , People's Republic of China
2012	5	MHL Red Stars	Seoul , South Korea
2013	3	Japan	Khabarovsk , Russia
2014	4th	MHL Red Stars	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk , Russia
2018 3	5	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
2019 4	4 + 4	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia

³The tournament, officially known as the IIHF U20 Challenge Cup of Asia 2018 , took place in December 2017.

^4thThe tournament, officially called the IIHF U20 Challenge Cup of Asia 2019 , took place in December 2018.

IIHF U18 Challenge Cup of Asia

year	Attendees	winner	venue
2012	5	Thailand	Abu Dhabi , United Arab Emirates

Web links

• Overview on the IIHF website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} https://www.iihf.com/en/news/17820/challenge-cup-of-asia-tournaments-cancelled