The Kuwait national ice hockey team ( ar, منتخب الكويت لهوكي الجليد) is the national men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

team of

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

. The team is controlled by the

Kuwait Ice Hockey Association The Ice Hockey Federation of Kuwait is the governing body of ice hockey in Kuwait. Kuwait had first joined the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1985, but was expelled on May 6, 1992 due to a lack of ice hockey activity. Kuwait was re-admitted ...

and a member of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

(IIHF) since 8 May 2009. As of 28 May 2023, Kuwait is currently ranked 50th in the

IIHF World Ranking The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned to ...

. Kuwait participated in the

IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia The IIHF Asia and Oceania Championship (formally the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia) are a series of international ice hockey tournaments in the continent of Asia. The purpose of the tournament is to provide competitive opportunities for Asian and Oc ...

, a regional tournament for lower-tier hockey nations in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, from 2010 to 2018. Kuwait made its World Championship debut at the 2018 Division III Qualification tournament.

History

In 1985, Kuwait had joined the IIHF, but was expelled in 1992 due to a lack of ice hockey activity. In 1999, Kuwait played their first games at the

1999 Asian Winter Games The 4th Asian Winter Games ( ko, 제 4 회 동계 아시안 게임, je 4 hoe dong-gye asian geim) were held from January 30 to February 6, 1999, in the province of Kangwon (Gangwon), South Korea. The games were staged in three different clusters ...

against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

, losing all three. In 2007, Kuwait returned to international play at the

2007 Asian Winter Games The 6th Asian Winter Games () were held in Changchun, Jilin, China from January 28 to February 4, 2007. The Winter Games are a celebration of Winter sports in Asia. This was the second time that China hosted the Asian Winter Games; the first was ...

where they recorded their first win against

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. The following year they competed in the

Arab Cup The FIFA Arab Cup ( ar, كأس العرب, translit=Kaʾs al-ʿArab), or simply Arab Cup, is an international association football competition which has been organized by FIFA since 2021, and is contested by the senior men's national teams of ...

finishing second after losing to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

in the final. In 2009, Kuwait re-admitted into the IIHF as an associate member. In 2010, Kuwait competed in their first Challenge Cup of Asia, finishing seventh overall, and in 2014, finishing 6th overall, losing all five games, and were relegated to Division I. Also they participated in the Kuwaiti organized Gulf Championship, finishing second behind the United Arab Emirates.

Tournament record

World Championships

Asian Winter Games

Arab Cup/GCC Gulf Championship

Asia and Oceania Championship

All-time record against other national teams

''Last match update: 13 May 2023''

References

External links

*
IIHF profile
{{Men's national ice hockey teams Ice hockey in Kuwait National ice hockey teams in Asia National ice hockey teams in the Arab world

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...