2006 Winter Olympics – Men's qualification

Qualification for the men's tournament at the 2006 Winter Olympics was determined through the IIHF World Ranking following the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. The top eight teams in the World Ranking received automatic berths into the Olympics, Italy received a berth as the host, while all other teams had an opportunity to qualify for the remaining three spots in the Olympics through qualifying tournaments.

Qualified teams
^Prague and Ostrava are the sites for 2012 World Championship only, thus the site where qualification through the rankings is determined.

Olympic pre-qualification tournaments
Three round robins were played from November 11–14, 2004. The hosts were the nations ranked 18th, 20th, and 21st following the 2004 World Championship, 19th place being the Italian team who already qualified as hosts. The winners of each group advanced to the final qualification tournaments. Played in Briançon, France.
 * Group D

Played in Nowy Targ Poland. Played in Stavanger Norway.
 * Group E
 * Group F
 * Great Britain (ranked 25th), and South Korea (ranked 30th), did not participate. Nations ranked 26th through 29th moved up one spot each with Croatia (31st) and Bulgaria (32nd) filling the final two spots.

Final Qualification Tournaments
Three round robins were played from February 10–13, 2005. The hosts were Nations ranked 9th, 10th, and 11th following the 2004 World Championship. The three group winners qualified for the Olympic tournament. Played in Kloten Switzerland. Played in Riga Latvia. Played in Klagenfurt Austria.
 * Group A
 * Group B
 * Group C