The 2011 IIHF World Championship was the 75th IIHF World Championship, an annual international men's ice hockey tournament. It took place between 29 April and 15 May 2011 in Slovakia. The games were played in the Orange Arena in Bratislava, and the Steel Aréna in Košice. The Czech team was the defending champion. This was the first time the independent Slovakia hosted the World Championships. However, this was the third time that Bratislava co-hosted the World Championships. The first two times were 1959 and 1992, each time with Prague, and while part of Czechoslovakia.