Six teams attempted to qualify for the two remaining spots in the 2012 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship Division I tournament. The other six nations automatically qualified after their results from the 2011 World Championship and the 2011 Division I tournaments. Two qualification tournaments were held with a place awarded to the winner of each tournament. The European Qualification tournament was contested between Bulgaria, Macedonia and Turkey, with Bulgaria winning both of their games and earning a qualification spot. The Rest of the World Qualification tournament was contested between Chinese Taipei, New Zealand and South Africa, with New Zealand winning promotion.
− Finished third in 2011 World Championship Division I
− Winner of the European Qualification
− Finished fifth in 2011 World Championship Division I
− Finished second in 2011 World Championship Division I
− Returned to competition after a year out due to force majeure
− Winner of the Rest of the World Qualification
− Relegated from the 2011 World Championship
European Qualification
The European Qualification tournament was held at the Winter Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria from 2 September 2011 to 4 September 2011. Bulgaria gained promotion to Division I after winning both of their games against Macedonia and Turkey. Turkey finished in second place after they won their other game against the Macedonian team. All times are local.
Rest of the World Qualification
The Rest of the World Qualification tournament was held at the New Plymouth Rollersports Arena in New Plymouth, New Zealand from 18 November 2011 to 20 November 2011. New Zealand gained promotion to Division I after winning both of their games against Chinese Taipei and South Africa. Chinese Taipei finished in second place after they won their other game against the South African team. All times are local.
Eight participating teams were placed in the following two groups. After playing a round-robin, every team advanced to the [|Playoff round]. All times are local.
Group C
Group D
Playoff round
All eight teams advanced into the playoff round and were seeded into the quarterfinals according to their result in the preliminary round. The winning quarterfinalists advanced through to the semifinals, while the losing teams moved through to the placement round. Bulgaria and New Zealand were relegated after losing their placement round games, while Australia and Japan advanced to a 5/6 placement game with Australia defeating Japan 7–3. In the semifinals Hungary defeated Austria and Slovakia defeating Croatia, both advancing to the gold medal game. After losing the semifinals Austria and Croatia played off for the bronze medal with Austria winning in overtime. Slovakia defeated Hungary 5–4 in the gold medal game and earned promotion to the 2013 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship.
