The International Ice Hockey Federation may have ended its blanket event ban on Russian national teams, but the nation will still not be permitted to register teams for several major tournaments during the 2026-27 season.
During recent meetings, the IIHF Council re-analyzed the Russian Ice Hockey Federation’s request that it be permitted to enter a Russian Team in each of the following IIHF tournaments:
- Men’s World Championship 2027
- Women’s World Championship 2027
- World Junior Championship 2027
- U-18 Men’s World Championship 2027
- U-18 Women’s World Championship 2027
The Council reviewed each tournament separately, “considering safety, security, operational feasibility and sport integrity,” and determined that Russia will not be allowed to participate in any tournament, except potentially the 2027 Women’s World Championship. That final decision was pushed until November, a year before that tournament is set to take place in Quebec City.
Belarusian participation in the events has been separated from the review of Russian teams, and the IIHF has determined that Belarus will be allowed to field teams at the U-18 Men’s World Championship, the Division IV Women’s World Championship, and the U-18 Division III Women’s World Championship. They will still be barred from the 2027 Men’s World Championship and 2027 World Junior Championship.
The Washington Capitals will have multiple players affected by the decisions, as captain Alex Ovechkin and wingers Ivan Miroshnichenko and Bogdan Trineyev have represented Russia at both the senior and junior levels, and the two Protas brothers, Aliaksei and Ilya, would have been favorites to lead the Belarus attack at the senior tournaments.
The Hockey Federation of Russia plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The RIHF announced the news shortly after the IIHF delivered its verdict.
“The RIHF does not accept or understand the short-sighted position of the IIHF, which ignores the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and does not correspond to the idea of a sport aimed at bringing people together around the world,” the federation said in a statement, as translated by Google Translate.
The next major IIHF-governed tournament is the 2027 World Junior Championship, which will be held next winter in Edmonton and Red Deer, Canada. After that, at the senior level, the 2027 World Championship will be hosted by Düsseldorf and Mannheim, Germany, from May 14 to May 30, 2027.
