Bandy World Champs

Although bandy has been played since the 19th century, the first men's world championships were only played as recently as 1957, and the first women's championships not until 2004.

Before this, friendlies had been played regularly between the Nordic countries. A film from British Pathé created in 1935 called "Ice Hockey At Helsingfors On Sleeve As Ice Hockey At Halsingfors News In A Nutshell (1935)" shows an international bandy match between women bandy players from Finland and women bandy players from Sweden being played outdoors at Helsingfors Ice Stadium (Helsinki) in Finland where the narrator corrects the misconception that it is an international women's ice hockey game. Helsingfors is the Swedish name for Helsinki and comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (etymological origin of the Finnish name Helsinki) and the rapids (in Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original town.

A bandy tournament for men was held as a demonstration sport at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, but this had no world championship status. A four-nation tournament in 1954 for men was played in Moscow, this was the first time the Soviet Union met teams from other countries and the first time the new, jointly agreed rules were used, however this was not called a world championship. The international federation was founded in 1955 by the four countries which had men's national bandy teams who had played in Moscow.

The first ever men's Bandy World Championship was organised in 1957 in association with the 50th anniversary of the Ball Association of Finland, which at the time was the governing body of bandy in Finland. It was played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

From 1961 to 2003, the men's championships were played every two years, but since then has been played annually. (During the period 1972–1990, the Rossiya Tournament was held for national teams in the years when there was no world championship. This was always played in the Soviet Union and arranged by newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya. It was affectionately called "the small world championship".)