Sixteen teams will compete at the World Curling Federation qualification event in Finland ©Kisakallio Sports Institute

Sixteen teams are set to compete for the four remaining places at the World Curling Championships at a qualification event beginning in Finland tomorrow.

Eight women's teams will be competing at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in Lohja, with the hosts, Estonia, Italy, Norway and Turkey representing Europe. 

Australia, South Korea and Mexico complete the line-up. 

Mexico and Finland will also feature in the men's event, alongside Czech Republic, England, Poland, Russia, China and Japan. 

Two women and two men's teams will be given a spot at their respective World Championships. 

Seven sessions of round-robin play are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Teams must rank in the top-three at the end of the round-robin stage to progress.

Hosts Finland are set to compete in both the men's and women's competition ©Getty Images
Hosts Finland are set to compete in both the men's and women's competition ©Getty Images

The top-ranked team will play the second-ranked teams on Saturday (January 18), with the winners going onto the World Curling Championships.

The losers of those games will then face the third-ranked teams, with the winners of those match-ups taking the second and last available world qualification slots.

Prince George in Canada is set to host the World Women’s Curling Championship from March 14 to 22, while the World Men’s Curling Championship will be held in the Scottish city of Glasgow from March 28 to April 5. 

This is the third event this season to be hosted in Lohja. 

The World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship and World Junior-B Curling Championships were both held at the Kisakallio Sports Institute in December.