In the 1900′s Europe became the centre of development of hockey in the world, the first world championship was played in the UK, and only then in France and other countries. Also in Europe it was created the first national hockey league, and then organized the first European Championship.
Nowadays hockey is very popular all over the world, including those where there is no winter and ice. This Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, India, Namibia, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Bulgaria.
The first international hockey tournament was held in 1909, a year later started the European Championships in ice hockey. In 1920 hockey was included in the Olympic Games. A decade later, hosted the first World Hockey Championship, and later appeared and youth world championships.
Date of first championship in hockey is still a matter of controversy. Some have called 1920 – the year of the Summer Games VII Olympiad in Antwerp, but later this hockey tournament was expelled from the Olympic Games, and gained the status of the world championship, so other sources call date of the first hockey championship – in 1930. Since 1930 world championships held annually, but only if the championship was involved at least one non-European countries.