The 2020 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships would have been the 84th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams would have participated in several levels of competition, including the inaugural competition in the newly created Division IV. The competition would also have served as qualifications for division placements in the 2021 competition.
Restructuring by the IIHF led to several changes in the lower divisions of the 2020 World Championships. Division III was renamed Division III-A, the Division III qualification tournament was renamed Division III-B, and Division IV was created, with the latter two tournaments consisting of four teams each instead of the standard six. The bottom two teams in the 2019 Division III qualification tournament were assigned to the new Division IV, along with newcomers Malaysia and the Philippines.
All tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.