IIHF reaches controversial decision on the future of banned teams

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Jim
February 12, 2024 (5:43 PM)

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After over a year of being banned today the International Ice Hockey Federation reached a decision on whether or not they would lift the ban on some teams. Today the IIHF announced today that two countries, Russia and Belarus, will not be able to play in the 2024/25 championships.

Today, during one of its regularly scheduled meetings, the IIHF Council reviewed the current safety risks associated with reincorporating the Russian and the Belarusian National and Club Teams into Competitions. Based on a thorough analysis, the llHF Council concluded that it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian Teams back into HF Competitions. Therefore, Russia and Belarus will not participate in the 2024/2025 IIHF championship season. This decision will also apply to the Belarusian team regarding the Final Olympic Qualification Round that will be played in August 2024.

As it has been done over the past years, the IIHF Council will continue to monitor the situation, with the latest date to determine if it is safe to reincorporate Russia and Belarus for the 2025/2026 Championship season in May 2025 at the IIHF Council meeting ahead of the llHF Annual Congress.

The IIHF says that they have reviewed everything and have declared it is still not safe for the parties to participate in the event. This decision comes in the mix of the Russia/Ukraine conflict and Belarus helping Russia in the conflict.

The next question turns to Israel and whether they will play or not as the conflict in the Middle East rages on. However, the NHL and IIHF seem determined to have them play, as stated on their Twitter page back in January. But, we haven't heard much since.

«The NHLPA has had productive communications with the IIHF regarding its efforts to ensure Israeli National Teams will continue to fully participate in international hockey competitions. We remain engaged with the IIHF and others in this process until the matter is resolved.»