IIHF kept Russia and Belarus out of key 2027 world championships
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has decided that Russian national teams will not participate in four major world championships in the 2026/2027 season, while the participation of Russia's senior women's national team will be decided separately. The decision, published on July 30, 2026, covers the 2027 men's senior World Championship, the World Junior Championship, namely the tournament for national teams under the age of 20, and the men's and women's Under-18 World Championships. The IIHF stated that, following an individual assessment of each competition, concerns related to security, participant protection, organizational feasibility and the integrity of the competitions remained. This confirmed that Russia will not return to the most important national-team competitions under the auspices of the world federation in the next season either. The status of the Russian senior women's national team will be reconsidered in November 2026, based on the circumstances and the risk assessment applicable at the time the decision is made.
Belarus simultaneously remained excluded from the 2027 men's senior World Championship and World Junior Championship. However, unlike Russia, Belarusian national teams remain permitted to participate in three competitions that the IIHF had previously approved as part of a gradual return: the men's Under-18 World Championship, the senior women's Division IV championship and the women's Under-18 championship in a lower division. In May, the IIHF announced that such a limited return was possible following discussions with organizing committees and separate risk analyses. The latest decision therefore does not represent a complete lifting of the Belarusian suspension, but rather a distinction between individual tournaments according to the assessed security and organizational conditions. In practice, the two countries, which had been covered by common restrictions since 2022, will have different levels of permitted participation in the 2026/2027 season.
Russia barred from four major tournaments
The most important consequence of the decision concerns the 2027 men's World Championship in Germany. According to the IIHF's official schedule, the main part of the tournament will be played from May 14 to 30 in Düsseldorf and Mannheim, while a special opening game between Germany and Switzerland is scheduled for May 13 in Gelsenkirchen. The organizers have already presented preliminary groups featuring 16 national teams, with neither Russia nor Belarus included. Russian players competing in the NHL, KHL and other professional leagues will therefore be unable to represent their country at that competition, regardless of their individual club status. The decision concerns national-team participation under the Russian national identity, not the right of individual hockey players to play for clubs outside the system of IIHF national-team championships.
Russia will also not participate in the World Junior Championship, which will be held from December 26, 2026, to January 5, 2027, in the Canadian cities of Edmonton and Red Deer. It is one of the most closely followed tournaments for young players, featuring under-20 national teams and traditionally playing an important role in the development of future professionals. The exclusion also extends to the men's Under-18 championship, scheduled from April 22 to May 2, 2027, in Duluth, in the US state of Minnesota. The women's Under-18 championship will be held from January 8 to 16, 2027, in Ostrava, Czechia, also without the Russian national team. For all four tournaments, the IIHF cited a combination of continuing security, protection and sporting reasons, while providing no details of the individual risk assessments in its public announcement.
The separate treatment of the Russian senior women's national team leaves open only one possible route for a return in the 2026/2027 season. The 2027 Women's World Championship has been awarded to Quebec City in Canada, and the IIHF will reconsider the Russian application in November 2026. Such a decision does not mean that participation is likely or approved in advance, but only that the final assessment for that tournament has not yet been completed. The federation emphasized that it will take into account the circumstances at that time and the current risk assessment, leaving open both the possibility of confirming the ban and changing the team's status. Until that decision is made, the Russian women's national team does not have a confirmed place at the championship.
Why the January decision had to be reconsidered
The process that led to the decisions of July 30 was legally and procedurally more complex than earlier annual extensions of the suspension. On January 21, 2026, the IIHF Council concluded that security conditions still did not permit the return of Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs in the 2026/2027 season. According to the federation's announcement at the time, the assessment was based on the conclusion that organizers could not guarantee all the conditions required for participant safety and the orderly conduct of the competitions. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation appealed to the IIHF Disciplinary Board. On May 25, the Board annulled the January decision insofar as it concerned Russia, but explicitly emphasized that the annulment did not mean the automatic reintegration of Russian national teams.
According to the IIHF's explanation, the matter was referred back to the Council for reconsideration based on more specific security, protection, operational and sporting plans. The Russian federation stated that the Disciplinary Board considered that the previous assessment did not contain sufficiently comprehensive reasoning and that the risk reports were too general. As a result, the Council could no longer rely solely on one general decision for the entire season, but had to analyze each tournament separately. It was precisely this approach that was applied in July, when applications for five Russian national-team competitions were considered separately. The result remained almost identical to the earlier ban, but it is now formulated as a set of individual decisions, with the decision on the senior women's championship postponed.
A similar procedure was also applied to Belarus, but the outcome was not the same for every tournament. Following the Disciplinary Board's instruction to reassess the risks, the IIHF permitted limited reintegration in three competitions in May. At the time, the world federation stated that the decisions had been made following detailed discussions with organizers, security analyses and consultations with relevant stakeholders. It also emphasized that the return would be gradual and subject to protective measures to be developed with national federations and hosts. The July decision confirmed that limited model, but did not open the door to either the Belarusian senior men's team or the junior U20 national team.
Russian federation announced an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Following the IIHF announcement, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation stated that it would challenge the new decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. The federation said it did not accept the world federation's position and claimed that it disregarded more recent recommendations of the International Olympic Committee and the idea of sport as a means of bringing people together. The announced appeal means that the proceedings may still enter a new legal phase, but merely submitting the case to CAS does not automatically alter the IIHF decision currently in force. It has not yet been officially confirmed when the appeal will be filed, within what timeframe the court will consider it, or whether the Russian side will request an interim measure. Unless and until CAS decides otherwise, tournament organizers may continue their preparations without the Russian national teams.
The argument concerning the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee is an important part of the Russian challenge. In July 2026, the IOC provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and announced that its earlier recommendations to international federations concerning restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes were no longer applicable. For Belarusian athletes, the IOC had already lifted in May the recommended participation conditions originating from 2022 and 2023. The Olympic movement had also previously supported broader access to international competitions for young athletes holding Russian or Belarusian passports. However, international sports federations continue to make independent decisions regarding their own championships, registration rules, security standards and organizational conditions, meaning that a change in IOC policy does not in itself oblige the IIHF to automatically reinstate national teams.
This is the central difference between the position of the Russian federation and the IIHF's reasoning. The Russian side views the decision as a continuation of sporting isolation that, according to its interpretation, is becoming increasingly inconsistent with the direction of the Olympic movement. The IIHF, on the other hand, formally bases its decisions on assessments of security, participant protection, operational feasibility and sporting integrity for each individual event. In its July announcement, the world federation did not cite a political sanction as the legal basis, but maintained its risk-assessment model. Any proceedings before CAS would therefore probably focus on whether the assessments were sufficiently specific, proportionate and correctly applied to each tournament.
Suspension has lasted since February 2022
Russia and Belarus have been excluded from IIHF competitions since February 28, 2022, several days after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At that time, the IIHF Council suspended all Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs across all age categories until further notice and stripped Russia of the right to host the 2023 World Junior Championship. The federation justified the decision by referring to its obligation to protect players, officials, fans and other participants, as well as concerns regarding safe travel to, from and within Russia. In July 2022, the IIHF Disciplinary Board rejected the first appeals by the Russian and Belarusian federations and concluded that the measure constituted a security policy rather than a disciplinary sanction. The restrictions were then extended for each subsequent season following new risk assessments.
In January 2026, the IIHF for the first time more openly indicated the possibility of considering the return of players under the age of 18 in the 2027/2028 season, provided that the security risks were sufficiently reduced. Belarus achieved a limited return earlier, for part of the 2026/2027 season, while Russia received no permission for any of the four tournaments already decided upon. This difference shows that the world federation no longer treats the two countries entirely alike and that decisions may vary according to the host, category and assessed conditions of an individual competition. At the same time, it remains unclear what specific changes would have to occur for the IIHF to determine that the risks had been sufficiently reduced for a broader return. For now, the federation has confirmed only its continued monitoring of circumstances and a new assessment of Russian participation in the senior women's championship in November.
For championship organizers, the decision removes part of the uncertainty at a time when preparations, schedules and participant lists are already at an advanced stage. For Russian national teams, it extends the period without official games at the largest IIHF tournaments, including competitions crucial to the development of under-18 and under-20 generations. Belarus is simultaneously being allowed a partial return through younger and lower levels, but without participation in the two most important men's championships covered by the July decision. The next important developments will be a possible Russian appeal to CAS and the IIHF Council meeting in November 2026 concerning the senior women's national team. Until then, the schedule remains in force under which most key 2027 world championships will be played without Russia, while the men's senior and junior championships will also be played without Belarus.
Sources:
- International Ice Hockey Federation – decision on Russian participation in the 2026/2027 season and the list of tournaments from which Russia is excluded (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – decision on Belarusian participation and confirmation of the ban for the men's senior and junior championships (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – explanation of the annulment of the January decision and the introduction of separate assessments for each tournament (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – decision on the limited reintegration of Belarus in three competitions (link)
- Russian Ice Hockey Federation – announcement of an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the IIHF decision of July 30, 2026 (link)
- International Olympic Committee – provisional lifting of the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and change to recommendations for international federations (link)
- International Olympic Committee – lifting of recommended restrictions relating to Belarusian athletes (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – official schedule of the 2027 World Championship in Germany and preliminary groups (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – overview of the dates and hosts of the 2027 world championships (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – initial decision on the suspension of Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs from February 2022 (link)