Russia, Belarus to remain banned from IIHF competition during 2024-25 season

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis
Russia, Belarus to remain banned from IIHF competition during 2024-25 season
Credit: KHL

The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced that Russia and Belarus will not be allowed back into IIHF competition for the 2024-25 season.

The IIHF reviewed the matter during a meeting on Monday.

“Based on a thorough analysis, the IIHF Council concluded that it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian Teams back into IIHF Competitions,” a statement said. “Therefore, Russia and Belarus will not participate in the 2024/2025 IIHF championship season.”

Of note, Belarus will not be able to participate in the final Olympic qualification tournament set for Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2024, preventing them from entering the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

The two teams have been banned since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022. IIHF events include the men’s and women’s World Championship, the U-20 World Junior Championship and the men’s and women’s U-18 World Championships.

Russia and Belarus have stuck to playing tournaments with each other and Kazakhstan. Most non-IIHF events, such as the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, U-17 World Hockey Challenge and various Four Nations and Euro Hockey Tour events, have also banned the two teams from competition.

Russia was originally supposed to host the 2023 World Junior Championship but moved to eastern Canada instead. They were also scheduled to host the 2023 men’s World Championship but was stripped in favor of a joint bid by Finland and Latvia.

Russia remains in third place in the men’s rankings and sixth place on the women’s side, one spot below the 2022 results. Belarus’ men’s team is 14th in the world, five points ahead of Kazakhstan.

Last month, the IIHF said it will decide in February whether Israel will be allowed to participate in events over the next few months. After initially banning Israel from the Division III, Group A World Juniors last month, they were allowed to participate and took home gold.

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