When the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF decided ahead of the 2026–2027 season to continue excluding Russian national teams from international tournaments, as they have done since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation appealed to Cas.
On Friday came the arbitration court's decision: the IIHF will allow Russia to participate in the U18 World Cup, the Junior World Cup and the Senior World Cup in 2027.
- When the decision came, I and we in Swedish ice hockey felt tremendous disappointment. Our view is still that in the current situation, Russia should not be involved. It is a line that I and we have pursued in various contexts. I myself sit on the IIHF board, where we have made the annual decision that Russia should not participate, says Swedish Ice Hockey Federation chairman Anders Larsson.
The first tournament affected by the change is the Men's World Junior Championship, which starts in December this year. How Russia's return will take place in practice remains to be seen.
- We will look at it in the IIHF next week of course. But the decision from Cas is clear: They must be reintegrated as soon as possible, so we have to try to solve it now, says Larsson and continues:
- Previously, we had meetings (in the IIHF) booked for several days next week, with an agenda that is now changing significantly, you can tell. There is a lot to do.
The Swedish confederation chairman, who sits on the IIHF's board and was previously chairman of the IIHF's competition committee, says, however, that one thing regarding Russia's return has been clear for a long time.
- We have a congressional decision that the day Russia comes back, no matter when that is, they have had a "frozen position". This means that they will return to the level where they were when they were no longer allowed to participate, he says and continues:
- It (the decision) was taken the same year that the war broke out, when they were no longer allowed to participate.
Which teams might suffer sportingly from this?
- That is what we now need to look at. Our office needs to go through rankings and other things. If, for example, Russia is going to the men's World Cup: Which team then cannot participate?
The IIHF congress decision means that Russia will return directly to the A division of the WC on the men's side. In 2026, Ukraine qualified for the A division of the Men's World Cup for the first time.
To the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, the president of the Finnish confederation Heikki Hietanen says that the lowest ranked team will be removed, according to the information available at the moment. As for the 2027 Men's World Cup, it's Ukraine. However, Hietanen adds that the organizer can possibly change the situation.
This is what Anders Larsson says about that scenario:
- Right now I probably don't want to speculate too much, but rather state that I am extremely disappointed with this decision and that we have a lot of practical issues to deal with. Then we will get back to exactly how this looks in terms of competition.
The Ice Hockey World Cup 2027 will be played in Germany and Sweden is placed in group A together with Finland and Ukraine in particular. According to the schedule, Sweden starts the tournament by facing Ukraine on May 14. There is no current boycott from the Swedish confederation.
