The schedule for the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship has been announced ©IIHF

The schedule for the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Men's World Championship has been revealed.

The tournament, which will be split between Cologne, Germany, and Paris, France, gets underway on May 5 next year.

Cologne will host the first match of the competition as Sweden take on 2016 bronze medalists Russia, followed by hosts Germany taking on the United States. 

Finland and Belarus will then kick things off in Paris, ahead of an evening game featuring defending champions Canada and the Czech Republic. 

The preliminary round closes on May 16, with the bronze and gold medal games taking place in Cologne on May 21.

The World Championship's Group A in Cologne consists of Russia, ranked second in the 2016 IIHF men’s world ranking, plus the US, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, Denmark and Italy.

Defending champions Canada take on Czech Republic in their opening game ©Getty Images
Defending champions Canada take on Czech Republic in their opening game ©Getty Images

Group B, playing in Paris, includes world number one Canada, Finland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus, Norway, France and Slovenia.

Thirty-four games will be played in Cologne's Lanxess Arena, which will be the main venue for the competition.

The AccorHotels Arena in Paris will host 30 games, including two quarter-finals.

The cities of Cologne and Paris are interlinked by the Thalys bullet train, with a trip between both taking just over three hours.