Krikunov speaks against excluding Ukraine from the 2027 World Championship to bring back the Russian national team

Former head coach of the Russian national team Vladimir Krikunov told Sovetsky Sport that the Ukrainian team, which qualified for Group A for the first time in a long while, should not lose its place at the 2027 World Championship. He proposed increasing the number of participants instead of a replacement. The IIHF has made no final decision yet.

Otabek YusupovFirst published on tafs uz 10 November 2026 at 19:232 min read

The key facts

Vladimir Krikunov considers it unfair to strip Ukraine of its place at the 2027 Ice Hockey World Championship
Ukraine reached Group A for the first time in a long while and is due to play at the tournament in Germany on 13–30 May 2027
President of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation Anders Larsson allowed for Ukraine to be replaced by Russia; no final decision has been made yet

Krikunov: the Ukrainians 'earned their place'

Former head coach of the Russian national ice hockey team Vladimir Krikunov spoke out against the possible exclusion of the Ukrainian team from the participants of the 2027 World Championship in order to bring the Russians back. In an interview with Sovetsky Sport, he said: 'Honestly, I'm not quite in favour of the option where, when the Russian national team returns, Ukraine gets removed. These guys earned their place, they made it to Division I Group A. Moreover, the Ukrainians got there for the first time in a very long while. They should get to play there for at least a year. That would be interesting.' In Krikunov's view, it would be unfair to deprive the players of competing against the strongest teams after the result they achieved on the ice; instead of a replacement, he believes it would be fairer to add an extra team to the group.

The essence of the problem and Sweden's position

The World Championship will be held in Germany from 13 to 30 May 2027. The Ukrainian national team is due to play in Group A, but its participation has been called into question because of Russia's return, as Russia sits at the bottom of the hierarchy. Earlier, Life.ru reported that the president of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation, Anders Larsson, allowed for Ukraine to be replaced by the Russian team: according to him, at the IIHF congress it was agreed that the Russian team would be returned to the division in which it played before its suspension. However, no final decision on replacing participants in the senior tournament has been made yet. Krikunov's position thus diverges from the replacement logic voiced by Larsson — and this is not the only dispute surrounding the scenario: the outlet also noted that in Norway there was outrage over the possible replacement of Ukraine by Russia.