The IIHF has announced that Germany will play USA in the opening game of the 2010 IIHF World Championship. The game will be played at Schalke 04's football stadion in Gelsenkirchen in front of a planned 75,976 spectators. 

If this attendance number is reached, this will make a new world record for attendance to a hockey game. The current record, 74,554 specators, was set in a university game between Michigan State and Michigan in 2001. When the ticket sale for the game in Gelsenkirschen opened in January 2009, the first available ticket contingent of 60,000 tickets was sold immediately. The second ticket sales will open on 22 May, the IIHF announces. By then, further tickets for the opening game as well as packages for the Preliminary, Qualification, and the Final Round will be available with now allocated teams, groups and venues.

The venues for four groups for the 2010 IIHF World Championship have furthermore been confirmed:

GROUP A: Lanxess Arena, Cologne: Russia, Belarus, Slovakia, Kazakhstan
GROUP B: SAP Arena, Mannheim: Canada, Switzerland, Latvia, Italy
GROUP C: SAP Arena, Mannheim: Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway, France
GROUP D: Lanxess Arena, Cologne*: Finland, USA, Germany, Denmark

* USA-Germany to be played at Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen.