Igor Nikitin — the main candidate for the position of head coach of the Russian national hockey team at the 2027 World Championship

Nikitin's candidacy

CSKA Moscow head coach Igor Nikitin has become the main candidate for the position of head coach of the Russian national hockey team at the 2027 World Championship, which will be held in Germany. This was reported, citing the Telegram channel Gazeta.Ru and Life.ru. According to the source, Nikitin is the most likely contender for this position.

Experience with the national team

Nikitin is already familiar with working for the national team: from 2011 to 2018 he was part of the national team's coaching staff, assisting Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Oleg Znarok. During this period, as Life.runotes, the Russians won the World Championship twice — in 2012 and 2014 — and took Olympic gold in Pyeongchang in 2018. At the club level, the specialist won the Gagarin Cup twice: in 2019 with CSKA and in 2025, when he led Yaroslavl Lokomotiv to the title for the first time, after which he returned to the army club.

Context: the CAS ruling and resistance to the return

The question of appointing a coach arose after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeal of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation on October 30 and overturned the IIHF's suspension decision, obliging the federation to admit Russian national teams to international competitions for the 2026/27 season. The IIHF stated that it would assess the steps and time needed to implement the ruling, expressing dissatisfaction with the CAS verdict. The organizational issues of the teams' return, as Life.ru notes, still have to be settled.

Uncertainty over participation

There is no complete clarity yet on Russia's participation in the tournament. According to Gazeta.Ru, six national federations — Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Norway, Latvia and Denmark — have refused to play matches against the Russian national team at the 2027 World Championship. Life.ru, citing preliminary information, writes that Russia may take Ukraine's place in Group A together with the national teams of Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Austria and Slovenia, but the final distribution of participants has not yet been approved. In addition, according to Bild, which Life.ru cites, German authorities are discussing possible restrictions with the IIHF — up to refusing visas — fearing a boycott of the tournament by a number of European teams; no final decisions have been made on this matter.