Azzurrine finish home World Championship without a win

The Women's Under-18 World Championship, Division I, Group A, in Klobenstein concluded on Sunday with the final three matches. While Italy's relegation had already been confirmed on Saturday, Germany secured the group victory with a 2-0 win over Norway and earned promotion to the top division.

18 January 2026

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Germany's decisive factor in this success was their 2-1 victory on Saturday in the top match against Japan. This meant that in their match against Norway on Sunday afternoon, the Germans simply had to do their homework. And they did so brilliantly.

Against the Scandinavians, the group winners kept the tension high for a long time, with both the first and second periods ending scoreless. In the final period, Anabel Seyrer finally broke the deadlock (52:48). Norway tried everything once more, pulling goalie Are-Ekstrom for an extra attacker, but the move backfired, and Isabell Manns sealed the 2-0 victory with an empty-net goal (58:46).

The German national team celebrated their tournament victory in Klobenstein. © Max Pattis

In the afternoon match, France secured the bronze medal at the U18 World Championship in Klobenstein with a 4-1 victory over Denmark. The French team's top scorer, Clemence Boudin (eight goals and three assists in five games), opened the scoring in the first period (15:52). Maeli Raigneau added a second goal on the power play (33:41), but Silke Heeris soon pulled one back for Denmark, also on the power play (38:12). In the final period, Jeanne Paul-Constant put France firmly in control (54:55), and Boudin sealed the 4-1 victory with an empty-net goal (56:19).

Italy's tournament ends in a heavy defeat

Italy played their final match in the I. Division, Group A, that evening, as their relegation to Group B had already been confirmed on Saturday after their defeat against Denmark. The "Azzurrine" suffered a clear defeat against Japan on Sunday evening.

The first period ended scoreless. In the second period, Japan turned up the heat, extending their lead to 4-0 thanks to goals from Umeka Odaira (22:04/PP1), Azumi Numabe (26:51), and a brace from Roco Maeda (31:55/PP1 and 34:51). Eleonora Pisetta pulled one back for Italy, assisted by Oliva de Bortolo, making it 4-1 (35:23), but Japan continued their relentless attack, and goals from Reina Kakuta (37:10), Numabe (39:13 and 39:47), and Momona Fukuzawa (39:55) gave Japan an 8-1 lead by the second intermission.

The final period was somewhat calmer. Numabe added her third goal of the day (45:23) and Kakuta sealed the 10-1 victory (53:13). However, this didn't change the outcome of the tournament on the Ritten for either Italy or Japan. Despite their outstanding goal difference of 34-7, Japan ultimately had to settle for second place behind Germany. And for Italy, as already mentioned, relegation was already a certainty.

The final table:

1. Germany 13 points, 12:5 goal difference
2. Japan 12 points, 34:7 goal difference
3. France 8 points, 13:12 goal difference
4. Norway 7 points, 10:23 goal difference
5. Denmark 5 points, 15:18 goal difference
6. Italy 0 points, 8:27 goal difference