The season's showpiece men's event is due to run until May 21, with action taking place at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, and the AccorHotels Arena in the French capital.

Canada have emerged as the victors of the previous two Championships, which took place in the Czech Republic and Russia in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

Their latest campaign will begin with one of their toughest matches in Group B, with the Czech team ranked as the tournament sixth seeds.

The match will bring the curtain down on the opening day’s play in Paris, which will begin with a tie between third seeds Finland and Belarus.

Finland will aim to go one better than they managed at last year’s Championships, where they were defeated 2-0 in the final by Canada, who have also won the last two Olympic golds.

Group B also features Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia and the host nation France.

Tournament second seeds Russia will take on Sweden in the opening Group A match tomorrow in Cologne, where all their round robin matches will be held.

A clash between hosts Germany and fourth seeded United States will take place in the evening.

Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark and Italy are also contesting Group A.

The top four teams in each group will advance to the playoff round, while the bottom nation in each of the standings will suffer relegation to the IIHF World Championships Division IA.

Austria and South Korea have already ensured they will compete in the World Championships next year, having secured promotion from Division IA last month.

The semi-finals and medal matches of this year’s competition will take place in Cologne.