IIHF bars Belarus from the 2027 Ice Hockey World Championships

IIHF Council decision

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has barred Belarusian national teams from participating in the 2027 World Championship and the 2027 World Junior Championship. This was announced by the organization's press service, as reported by Gazeta.Ru.

The federation's rationale

The press service's statement says that the council «took into account the existing sporting and organizational arrangements for both championships, including the competition structure, schedule, ticket sales and operational planning». Thus, the federation justified the refusal not by sporting results, but by the already established organization of the tournaments.

Context: the CAS ruling on Russia

The decision on Belarus came shortly after, on October 30, the Court of Arbitration for Sport fully upheld the appeal of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and overturned the IIHF's decision to suspend Russia. At the time, the IIHF emphasized that it would urgently assess the steps and time needed to implement the ruling and address its operational consequences. Earlier, the CAS explained the reasons for its decision on admitting Russian national hockey teams.

Additional information

Separately, the Gazeta.Ru article mentions that on July 7 the International Olympic Committee temporarily lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and recommended that all federations remove restrictions on Russian athletes, deeming the previous recommendations no longer relevant. However, the question of admitting the Russian national team to the 2027 World Championships was not directly addressed in the IIHF statement: the federation only said it needed to assess the consequences of the CAS ruling. No information is available in accessible sources about the timeline for such a review or about the possible participation of Russian teams in the 2027 tournaments.