Eight teams qualified for the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The top six teams in the IIHF World Ranking after the 2008 Women's World Ice Hockey Championships received automatic berths into the Ice Hockey event. Lower ranked teams had an opportunity to qualify for the event. Teams ranked 13th and below were divided into two groups where they played in a first qualification round in September 2008. The two group winners from the round advanced to the second qualification round, where the teams ranked 7th through 12th joined them. In the second qualifying round, played in November 2008, the teams were again divided into two groups. The two group winners China and Slovakia advanced to the Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament.
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Qualified teams
^Harbin is the site for 2008 World Championships only, thus the site where qualification through the rankings is determined.
Note: Canada, USA, and Sweden had already mathematically qualified after the 2007 World Championships.
First round
The following teams were ranked 13th and below in the IIHF World Ranking. They were seeded according to their ranking, with the two group winners advancing to the final qualification tournaments.
Group A
All times are local (UTC+1).
Group B
All times are local (UTC+2).
Second round
By being ranked 7 through 12 in the final 2008 IIHF World Rankings, the following teams qualified for the qualification tournament. There were two winners from these tournaments that advanced to the Olympic tournament.
Group C
All times are local (UTC+1).
Group D
All times are local (UTC+8).