The event is scheduled to be shared between Moscow and in St. Petersburg and feature 16 teams.

It is due to begin on May 6 and last until May 22.

The ticket sales programme, launched last November with an initial price of 1,875 rubles (£19.50/$28.50/€25), was divided into three separate sub-groups.

The first - deals season tickets for all matches of a particular national team, the second - season tickets for all matches at one particular arena, and the third offers tickets for particular matches of both of the group and the knock-out stages.

"There is an enormous interest in the matches of the Russian national team and we are grateful to our fans," Russian Deputy Sports Minister Yury Nagornykh told the country's official news agency TASS. 

"In all, people from 39 countries bought tickets for the Championship’s matches."

The 12,000-seat VTB Ice Palace in Moscow will host the matches of Group A, which comprise the teams from Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and Kazakhstan.

The 6,000-seat Yubileiny Arena will see the matches of Group B teams, which are from Canada, Finland, the United States, Slovakia, Belarus, France, Germany and Hungary.

During the knock-out stage the stadiums in Moscow and St. Petersburg will each host two matches of the quarter-finals round, while both semi-finals, the match for the third place and the final are scheduled to be held at the VTB Ice Palace in Moscow.

This will be the seventh IIHF World Championship held in Russia as it was hosted by Moscow five times, in 1957, 1973, 1979, 1986 and 2007, and once by St. Petersburg in 2000.

The last Championship was held last year in the Czech Republic, where Canada beat Russia 6-1 in the final.