The final and official program of the 2004 IIHF World Championships 2004 played in Czech cities Prague and Ostrava will be born on May, 9th, 2003. That is, on this day, the draw of the next 2004 IIHF World Championship will be executed in one of the tents in the hockey village near the Hartwall Arena.

But some fact are known already. The home team of the Czech Republic will be placed to Prague. Arena Vítkovice in Ostrava will become the home site for the Slovakian team. Other teams will know their sites just on the basis of the draw.
The draw will be deliberately executed after the quarter-final games of the this year´s championship. Teams will be divided into four coups according to their quality. The four semi-finalists will be placed in the first coup. The second coup belongs to quarterfinal loosers. Teams on 9th – 12th places will appear in the third coup and in the last, fourth coup are already known teams which qualified form the 1st division and novice teams for 2004 IIHF World Champioships – teams of France and Kazakhstan. Two more teams not falling to the 1st division will be added to France and Kazakhstan.

2004 IIHF World Championship in Prague and Ostrava starts on April 24th, and culminates on May 9th, 2004 when the final game will be played in Sazka Arena in Prague.