The 1996 Ice Hockey World Championship took place in Austria 21st April - 5th May. The games were played in Vienna. Twelve teams took place, with the first round split into two groups of six, with the first four from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. This was the 60th World Championship and the Czech Republic beat Canada in the final to become World Champions for the first time. (Czechoslovakia had won the World Championship six times).