The two countries came through their home qualification competitions with 100 per cent records to advance to February's final round-robin events, where spaces at the Games will be up for grabs.

With only the winners of both tournaments going through competition was fierce and France, who have never played in an Olympic tournament, began well with a 3-0 victory over China at the Aren'Ice in Cergy-Pontoise.

They then beat Italy 3-1 before confirming their place in the next round with a dominant 8-1 victory over Latvia in their concluding game.

Norway hosted their tournament at the DNB Arena in Stavanger and breezed past Hungary 4-0 in their first encounter.

The Norwegians have also never played at the Olympic Games but went through with relative ease as they beat Kazakhstan 5-0 and Slovakia 6-2.

It means they will play in Group C in the final qualification round, which will be hosted by Switzerland at the Sport-und Kongresszentrum in Arosa.

Czech Republic and Denmark will also play in the tournament.

France have gone into Group D which will be played at the Hakucho Oji Ice Arena in Tomakomai in Japan.

The hosts will also welcome Germany and Austria, with only the two tournament winners progressing to Pyeongchang 2018.

Both tournaments will be held between February 9 and 12.

Defending champions Canada, United States, Finland, Russia and Sweden have already qualified for the Olympic tournament by account of their International Ice Hockey Federation ranking.

South Korea have also received a host nation berth, with the two qualifiers to complete the eight-team field.