The 53rd edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament was held in the traditional venues: Oberstorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, and Innsbruck and Bischofshofen in Austria.

This early-season dominance of the Finnish athlete, who had already won the Four Hills tournament twice before, made him the favourite for the title, and Ahonen did not disappoint.

The fifteen athletes leading the World Cup at the time would qualify automatically.

The standings at the time of the tournament, after seven out of twenty-two events, were as follows:[1] The number of athletes a nation was allowed to nominate was dependent on previous results.

The following athletes were nominated: Schattenbergschanze, Oberstorf 28-29 December 2004 Defending champion Sigurd Pettersen was not among the fifteen pre-qualified jumpers, and only placed 63rd in the qualification round.