German Authorities: Hosting The 2027 Ice Hockey World Championship With Russia Is “Virtually Impossible”

Earlier, a number of countries refused to play against Russia in the tournament.

The German government considers it “virtually impossible” hosting the 2027 Ice Hockey World Championship in May 2027 if the Russian national team participates. This was stated by the Cabinet’s official spokesperson Stefan Cornelius on Friday, November 6, following consultations with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as well as with the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) and the German Olympic Committee (DOSB), reports DW.

“Our goal is to hold the tournaments as planned. However, if Russia is allowed to participate, there will be boycotts that would make holding the competitions virtually impossible. “That is why we now want to explore options through negotiations that would still allow us to hold the tournament,” the SID news agency quotes Cornelius as saying. The government representative emphasized that serious problems arise from both a sporting and an economic perspective.

Thus, threats of a boycott from a number of countries—including the reigning world champions, Finland—indicate that “the international hockey community does not accept Russia’s return, even despite the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS),” Cornelius believes. In addition, the Czech automaker Skoda—the general sponsor of the World Hockey Championship since 1993—has threatened to withdraw its support for the IIHF tournament. Similar statements have been made by some other partners of the championship.

Frank Lutz, chairman of the German Ice Hockey Federation, previously stated that Germany “needs to consider” possibly withdrawing as the host of the tournament.
“Our position remains unchanged: we oppose the return of Russian national teams to international hockey tournaments. <�…> This decision radically changes the initial situation regarding the 2027 Ice Hockey World Championship in Germany. Allowing Russia to participate entails significant security, political, and economic consequences for us as the host country,” his statement reads.

The 2027 Ice Hockey World Championship is expected to take place from May 14 to 30 at arenas in Düsseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, and Mannheim. The two groups of participants — each consisting of eight national teams — were formed in the spring of 2026 without Russia and Belarus, which had previously been suspended from participating in international competitions due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Belarus’s support for that aggression. The full match schedule was also approved, and ticket sales for the matches began in October. If Russia is allowed to participate, organizers will likely have to exclude the lowest-ranked team—the Ukrainian national team, which qualified for the tournament for the first time since 2007—according to media reports.

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