The ban on Russian hockey teams has been lifted - the 2027 World Cup in Germany threatens to turn into chaos. The new newspaper of Zurich.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has caused a major stir in international hockey, the likes of which the sport has not seen in a long time. According to his decision, Russian hockey teams are again allowed to participate in international competitions.
This means that the men's team is eligible to compete at the World Championships in Germany in May 2027.
Since the beginning of the war against Ukraine, Russia has been banned from participating in all hockey tournaments; After the defeat in the final of the 2022 Olympics, the Russians did not compete on the international stage. Russia's Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) has also found itself largely isolated, with almost no European players venturing to the war-torn country. And those who could not resist the tempting offers of the oligarchs were often excluded from the national teams.
Russia's reintegration into hockey was a gradual process, which, among others, was worked with great enthusiasm by the long-time president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), René Fassel.
However, it was generally believed that a large-scale return would only occur during the NHL-sponsored World Cup of Hockey in February 2028.
CAS unanimously ruled that the safety concerns cited by the IIHF were insufficiently substantiated. The judges make their task very easy with their justifications; Now others will have to deal with the consequences.
The IIHF faces logistical, organizational and, not least, enormous challenges. After all, an immediate restoration of Russia to the league will probably lead to one of the teams that won the right to promotion being denied promotion.
In the World Cup, the second team that reached the senior league, along with Kazakhstan, is Ukraine.