[1] To qualify directly, a nation had to be ranked in the top eight following the 2019 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships.
Points were earned based on overall finish in 2019: Eight teams began the qualification process in two tournaments.
Due to unrest in Hong Kong this tournament was moved to Sanya, China, and was played from 7 to 10 November 2019.
Each tournament winner was ranked by their qualification seeding and entered the next round as qualifier seven, eight, or nine.
^ The game was originally supposed to be played on 15 December 2019 but was stopped after a scoreless first period because of problems with the ice surface.