Another duty is to promote friendly relations among the member national associations and to operate in an organized manner for the good order of the sport.

[3] The federation may take the necessary measures in order to conduct itself and its affairs in accordance with its statutes, bylaws and regulations as well as in holding a clear jurisdiction with regards to ice hockey at the international level.

[7] The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 which had caused Hungary to be occupied by the Soviet Army, led to a boycott of the 1957 World Championships, which were being staged in Moscow.

[8] The 1962 World Championship, hosted by the American cities of Colorado Springs and Denver, was boycotted by the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, which led to a further boycott by the other Eastern Bloc countries.

The Canadians had boycotted these tournaments between 1970 and 1976 after the IIHF had refused to allow them to roster professional players at the World Championships from NHL teams that had not qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The pro players whose teams had been eliminated from the playoffs were allowed to compete and in exchange, Canada agreed to participate in the World Championships.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union saw its membership transferred to Russia, and the addition of four ex-Soviet republics; Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine to the federation.

In addition, the memberships of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - all of which had initially joined the IIHF in the 1930s but were expelled following their annexation by the Soviet Union - were renewed.

[11] The number of members grew in the 21st century: Chile (2000), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001), Liechtenstein (2001), North Macedonia (2001), the United Arab Emirates (2001), Macau (2005), Malaysia (2006), Moldova (2008; presumably expelled from IIHF membership in 2023), Georgia (2009), Kuwait (2009; had originally joined in 1985, but was expelled in 1992), Morocco (2010), Kyrgyzstan (2011), Jamaica (2012), Qatar (2012), Oman (2014), Turkmenistan (2015), Indonesia (2016), Nepal (2016), the Philippines (2016), Algeria (2019), Colombia (2019), Iran (2019), Lebanon (2019), Uzbekistan (2019), Tunisia (2021), Puerto Rico (2022), Bahrain (2024), Kenya (2024).

[10] The IIHF received international criticism for holding the 2014 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in Belarus, because of the poor human rights record of the country.

[13] The IIHF again received criticism for planning to partly hold the 2021 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in Belarus.

[14][15] In January 2021, the IIHF withdrew the 2021 World Championship from Minsk due to safety and security issues during the political unrest, besides the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to solely hold the tournament in Riga, Latvia.

[18][19] On 28 February 2022, the IIHF suspended the memberships of the Russian and Belarusian ice hockey federations until further notice due to the countries' invasion of Ukraine.

[24] The approval came exactly 89 years from the foundation of the IIHF, with the purpose of honoring former international ice hockey players, builders (administrators) and officials.

[25] The annual induction ceremony takes place on the medal presentation day of the Ice Hockey World Championships.

The award was named for Bibi Torriani, who played internationally for the Switzerland men's national ice hockey team.

[29] Named after Paul Loicq, who was president of the IIHF from 1922 until 1947, it is the highest personal recognition given by the world governing body of ice hockey.

The team was chosen based on the players' "impact in international ice hockey over a period of at least a decade," with a requirement that they must have performed "at the highest possible level (Olympics, the IIHF World Championship or the Canada Cup/World Cup tournaments)."

[37] The IIHF Media Award was established in 2024, given to an individual who made outstanding contributions to international hockey through television, print, and radio.

[51] The federation has 60 full members, including two suspended members: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus (suspended), Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia (suspended), Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States.

In addition, there are 23 associate and 1 affiliate members who either do not have a national body dedicated to the sport, or do not regularly participate in the international championships (Chile is still listed as 'affiliate' despite having ice hockey now).

They are Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Macau, Morocco, Nepal, North Macedonia, Oman, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan.