The 1979 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union from 14 to 27 April. Eight teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of four, and the best two from each group advancing to the final group. The four best teams then played each other twice in the final round. This was the 46th World Championship and at the same time, the 57th European Championship. In the May 1978 congress many rules were aligned with NHL practices and archaic rules were finally officially abandoned. The games were very well attended, setting a record by averaging over eleven thousand spectators per game.

Luzhniki Palace of Sports, formerly the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium, is a sports arena in Moscow, Russia, a part of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex. Built in 1956, it originally had a spectator capacity of 13,700. In the past it was the host site of the world and European championships in ice hockey, gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, boxing, skateboarding and other sports.