The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has announced that Russia and Belarus will be banned from ice hockey tournaments. This means that they will not be allowed to participate in the 2025 Ice Hockey World Championships in Sweden and Denmark.
Russia and Belarus have been banned from ice hockey tournaments since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, which will now continue into the 2024/25 season. The IIHF says that after a “thorough analysis” it has concluded that it is still “not safe” to reinstate the Russian and Belarusian teams to the tournaments.
This also means that the countries will be banned from the 2025 Ice Hockey World Championships in Sweden and Denmark.
– From the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation we stand behind this decision, which is absolutely necessary in the current situation, says Anders Larsson, President of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation and member of the Board of the International Ice Hockey Federation in a press release.
In May 2025, the IIHF will evaluate whether the countries will be allowed to participate in the 2025/26 season.
However, both countries will be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris this summer under a neutral flag.
