Bad newsRussia Ordered Back Into Hockey’s World Championships as Hosts and Ukraine Protest
The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the IIHF’s exclusion of Russia on 30 October, citing insufficient evidence for the safety concerns. Germany, which hosts the men’s worlds in May, and Ukraine’s federation both object.
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Russia is set to return to international ice hockey after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the International Ice Hockey Federation’s decisions to exclude it. In a statement published on Friday 30 October, CAS said the IIHF’s arguments citing safety, security and other concerns were “not supported by sufficient evidence”, the BBC reports. Russia has been barred from IIHF events since shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
CAS ordered the IIHF to admit Russia to five upcoming tournaments, DW reports. They include the men’s world championship in Germany next May and the women’s world championship in Canada in November 2027. The first to be affected is the men’s World Junior Championship, which opens in Edmonton on 26 December. The women’s world championship in Denmark, which starts on 6 November, is not mentioned in the CAS statement.
Hosts and Ukraine object
The IIHF said it was disappointed. It maintains that its decisions were necessary to protect the safety and security of all participants, and that the ruling has practical implications for competitions already far advanced in preparation. It would not confirm whose place Russia could take. The men’s groups for Germany have already been drawn, DW notes.
Germany’s federation said the ruling had fundamentally changed things for the host nation. Chairman Frank Lutz said: “We reject the return of Russian national teams to international ice hockey tournaments.” He said participation brings “security-related, political, and economic consequences” for the hosts. The federation is evaluating the ruling with the IIHF.
Ukraine’s men have qualified for the top-flight world championship for the first time in 20 years, having been relegated in 2007. The Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine said it expressed “deep indignation” at a decision made during a full-scale war. The Finnish, Czech and British federations also criticised the ruling. Finland’s chairman, Heikki Hietanen, called it incomprehensible. Ice Hockey UK said it was disappointed but respected CAS.
Russia’s hockey federation welcomed the decision and said it would work with the IIHF on the return of its teams. Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyaryov said CAS had recognised the federation’s demands as justified on key points.
Russia was also absent from this year’s Olympic hockey tournaments in Milan. The ruling comes as the IIHF has just elected a new president: Franz Reindl of Germany succeeded Luc Tardif earlier this month. Russia, with the Soviet Union, won 27 men’s world titles, second only to Canada’s 28. Nothing in the sources says when the IIHF will announce how it will fit Russia into the schedules.
