Meet the Teams: World Men’s Curling Championship set to get underway

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The 2025 World Men’s Curling Championship begins Saturday in Moose Jaw as the top 13 teams from across the globe will compete for international glory.

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After winning the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C., earlier this month, Brad Jacobs and his squad will represent Team Canada on home soil while Sweden’s Niklas Edin returns as the defending champion. Scotland’s Bruce Mouat will also be among the favourites coming in as the No. 1 ranked team in the world.

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This year also features two different teams as Austria and China have qualified for the event while New Zealand and the Netherlands have been relegated.

Teams will play a 12-game round robin with the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs. The top two teams will receive a bye to the semifinals while the remaining four seeds will battle in the qualification round with the two winners advancing to the semifinals.

The championship game is set for Sunday, Apr. 6 at 3 p.m. inside the Temple Gardens Centre, which is playing host to the World Men’s Curling Championship for the first time.

Canada: skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert

After winning the Brier in their first season as a team, the Alberta rink — ranked No. 3 in the world — will represent Canada on home ice with Jacobs making his first worlds appearance since 2013 when he claimed silver. Kennedy and Hebert, a Regina product, will be making their fifth trip to the worlds while Gallant will be making his fourth.

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Sweden: skip Niklas Edin, third Oskar Eriksson, second Rasmus Wrana, lead Christoffer Sundgren

Led by Edin, Sweden has been a curling powerhouse in the men’s game over the past six championships as they’ve won five gold medals.

The 39-year-old Edin, the all-time winningest skip at worlds, has won a record seven total world championships to go along with a silver medal and two bronze. Last year, Edin finished the round robin with an 11-1 record before beating Brad Gushue and Team Canada in the final.

United States: skip Korey Dropkin, third Thomas Howell, second Andrew Stopera, lead Mark Fenner

For just the second time in six years, it won’t be John Shuster representing the United States at the world championship.

Dropkin, also the United States’ mixed doubles champion, defeated Shuster in the semifinal in this year’s U.S. championship before going on to beat Daniel Casper in the final. This will be Dropkin’s second time representing the United States at the worlds after also doing so in 2022, which followed a win at the 2021 nationals, which was a tournament that didn’t feature Shuster.

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Scotland: skip Bruce Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie, lead Hammy McMillan

One of the top curlers in the world, Mouat returns to the worlds after a fourth-place finish last year following a loss to Gushue in the semifinal.

Mouat, the 2023 champion and 2021 runner-up, is currently ranked No. 1 in the world coming into the championship. This season, he’s won three events on the Grand Slam of Curling tour and will be among the favourites to win.

Italy: skip Joel Retornaz, third Amos Mosaner, second Sebastian Arman, lead Mattia Giovanella

Retornaz will be making his 11th career trip to the worlds with two bronze medals on his resume, including a third-place finish last year.

In 2024, Retornaz put together a 8-4 round robin record before losing to Edin in the semifinals. It was the third straight top four finish for Italy at the event after a fourth-place finish in 2023 followed by a bronze medal in 2022.

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Switzerland: skip Yannick Schwaller, fourth Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, second Sven Michel, lead Pablo Lachat

At the world championships last year, Schwaller and company finished just out of the playoffs with a 6-6 round robin record.

That result followed a third-place finish in 2023, which was Switzerland’s fifth bronze medal since 2014, with Schwarz-van Berkel playing on all five of those teams. The Swiss, who are ranked No. 4 in the world entering the event, have won one world championship (1992).

Germany: skip Marc Muskatewitz, third Benjamin Kapp, second Felix Messenzehl, lead Johannes Scheuerl

Skipping the No. 8 ranked team in the world, Muskatewitz returns to the 2025 worlds after a quarter-final loss against Italy in last year’s event.

This year, the group comes in fresh off a gold medal at the European championships, which was the first of Muskatewitz’s career although he’s making his seventh trip to worlds. Germany hasn’t medaled at the world championships since a second-place finish in 2007.

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South Korea: skip Hyojun Kim, third Eunbin Kim, second Jeongmin Pyo, lead Jinhun Kim

The South Korean team finished in fifth place at the recent Pan Continental Championships, which qualified them for the worlds.

Last year at worlds, represented by a different team, South Korea finished with a 2-10 record in the round robin. South Korea has just one medal in tournament history as they claimed bronze in 2018.

Austria: skip Mathias Genner, third Jonas Backofen, second Martin Reichel, lead Florian Mavec

After securing a spot at the world championships following a seventh-place finish at the European championships last year, Team Austria will be competing at the world championships for the first time since 2002.

Skipped by Genner, the Austrian team suffered six straight losses at the European championships before rattling off three straight wins to break the 23-year drought. Austria has never won a medal at the men’s worlds.

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China: skip Xiaoming Xu, third Xueqing Fei, second Zhiyu Wang, lead Zhichao Li

Competing at the worlds for the first time since 2021, this Beijing team qualified for the event after winning the Pan Continental Championships last year in Lacombe, Alta.

Xu is competing at his first world championship since 2017 and eighth overall. China has never won a medal at the world men’s championship with a fourth-place finish in 2008 serving as their best result.

Norway: skip Magnus Ramsfjell, third Marin Sesaker, second Bendik Ramsfjell, lead Gaute Nepstad

Ramsfjell, who has medaled in the last eight Norwegian championships and is coming off a third-place finish at the European championships, will be making his fifth career trip to worlds after a 4-8 round robin record last year.

Norway has won four gold medals at the worlds with the country’s last coming in 2014 skipped by the late Thomas Ulsrud, who also claimed silver in 2015. Since then, the country has been held off the podium.

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Japan: skip Riku Yanagisawa, third Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, second Takeru Yamamoto, lead Satoshi Koizumi

Yanagisawa will be competing in his second world championship after making his debut in 2023 when the team finished just out of the playoffs with a 5-7 record. That year, the team also claimed the bronze medal at the Pan Continental Championships.

The team, which has won three out of the past four Japanese championships, will be looking for the country’s first medal since claiming bronze in 2019.

Czech Republic: skip Lukas Klima, third Marek Cernovsky, second Martin Jurik, lead Lukas Klipa

Klima, making his fifth world championship appearance, finished with a 4-8 record during the round robin last year which wasn’t good enough to qualify for playoffs.

This year, the Czechs narrowly qualified for the world championships as they finished in eighth place at the European championships to earn the final entry. The Czechs have never won a medal at the world championships in tournament history.

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