After the decision of the disciplinary body, the IIHF must decide again on the Russian national ice hockey teams
The International Ice Hockey Federation, IIHF, will have to reassess whether Russia can return to international competitions after its disciplinary body annulled the decision of the IIHF Council by which the Russian national teams had been excluded from the 2026/2027 season. According to the announcement of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation of 28 May 2026, the IIHF Disciplinary Board accepted the Russian federation's objection and concluded that the decision of 21 January 2026 had not been sufficiently reasoned. The Russian federation states that the submitted reports on the security risk were not sufficiently exhaustive and that they contained general formulations, rather than specific reasons for continuing the ban.
The decision does not mean an automatic return of the Russian national teams to IIHF tournaments. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation itself states in its announcement that the annulment of the earlier decision does not guarantee Russia's immediate participation in international competitions and that further decisions will be made according to IIHF rules. Thus the legal position of the Russian selections has changed, but the sporting and organizational status has not yet been finally resolved. According to the available information, the IIHF will therefore have to consider the question of Russian participation in future competitions on a new basis, with an assessment of individual tournaments and security conditions.
What has been annulled, and what remains open
On 21 January 2026, the IIHF Council decided that Russian and Belarusian national and club teams would not be reintegrated into IIHF competitions for the 2026/2027 season. In the statement issued at the time, the IIHF said that, after the latest risk assessment, security conditions still did not allow the organization of tournaments in a way that would guarantee the safety of all participants. At the same time, the organization announced that it would consider the possibility of a gradual inclusion of young players under 18 from Russia and Belarus in the 2027/2028 season, but only if the security circumstances changed significantly.
The annulled decision concerned the continuation of the exclusion of the Russian national teams from competitions for the 2026/2027 season, and not the automatic issuing of invitations for individual tournaments. This is an important difference because IIHF calendars, competition schedules, promotion and relegation systems, and the organizational obligations of hosts are not matters that can be resolved by a single disciplinary conclusion. In practice, the IIHF will have to determine whether a possible return of Russia can be aligned with competition rules, registration deadlines, host security plans, and the broader sporting framework. The question of whether the return would apply to senior national teams, younger age categories, the women's national team, or club competitions remains particularly sensitive.
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation presents the decision as a significant step toward a return to the international scene, but in its official announcement it also emphasizes that the procedure continues. The federation stated that it would cooperate with the Russian Ministry of Sport and the Russian Olympic Committee in order to secure the return of national teams to international competitions. On the other hand, the IIHF has consistently claimed in earlier statements that the decisions on exclusion are not based on a sporting punishment in the narrow sense, but on a security assessment and the duty to protect players, officials, media, and spectators.
The ban has been in place since the beginning of the war in Ukraine
Russia and Belarus have been outside IIHF competitions since 28 February 2022, when the IIHF Council, after an extraordinary meeting, decided to suspend all Russian and Belarusian national teams and clubs from all age categories and all competitions or events under the federation's umbrella. The IIHF then stated that the decision had been made after an assessment of the consequences of the war in Ukraine and that its goal was to ensure the safety of championships, participants, and fans. By the same decision, the organization stripped Russia of the hosting rights for the 2023 World Junior Championship.
In July 2022, the independent IIHF Disciplinary Board rejected the appeals of the Russian and Belarusian federations against the initial decision. According to the IIHF statement at the time, the board concluded that the Council's decision was not a disciplinary sanction, but a security policy, and that the Council had the authority to adopt such a measure. The board then accepted the IIHF's argument that the participation of Russian and Belarusian national teams, as well as the holding of competitions in Russia, would represent an unacceptable security risk. IIHF President Luc Tardif stated at the time that the federation had a duty to take care of the safety and well-being of players, staff, officials, media, and spectators.
Since then, the IIHF has extended the status quo several times. In February 2025, the IIHF Council decided that Russia and Belarus would not be returned for the 2025/2026 season, again citing security conditions. In the same statement, the IIHF said that no later than May 2026, ahead of the annual congress, it would reassess whether Russia and Belarus could be included in the 2026/2027 season. The January 2026 decision, which according to the Russian federation's announcement has now been annulled by the disciplinary body, was a continuation of that policy.
The security argument remains the central issue
The center of the dispute between the IIHF and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation remains the issue of security. Since 2022, the IIHF has argued that in the circumstances of the war in Ukraine it cannot ensure the staging of tournaments without serious risks for participants and organizers. The Russian federation, however, claims that these arguments are outdated, insufficiently specific, and cannot justify the continuation of the exclusion. In January 2026, the Russian federation announced that it considered it unacceptable that it had not participated in the IIHF Council meeting at which the 2026/2027 season was decided, and it announced an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The latest decision of the disciplinary body, according to the Russian announcement, does not necessarily dispute the IIHF's right to assess security, but points to the insufficient reasoning of the specific decision. This means that the IIHF, if it wants to maintain the restrictions, may be faced with the need to explain the risks for individual competitions in greater and more precise detail. Within such a framework, senior world championships, junior competitions, women's tournaments, and club competitions could be considered separately. Such an approach would be closer to a model of individual assessment, instead of a general ban that, without additional reasoning, covers all categories.
In sporting terms, such a development could open up a long administrative process. Competition hosts, national federations, television partners, and security services would have to know the composition of tournaments in good time. The IIHF must also take into account the sporting integrity of competitions because the subsequent inclusion of one national team could affect qualification systems, match schedules, and the status of national teams that have in the meantime taken places in tournaments. That is precisely why the latest decision does not mean that the Russian national team can immediately appear on the ice, but that the legal basis of the earlier decision is no longer sufficient without additional action.
Impact on world championships and the Olympic framework
The 2026 World Championship in Switzerland is under way, which according to the official IIHF calendar is played from 15 to 31 May in Zürich and Fribourg. Russia is not among the participants in that tournament. According to the official IIHF profile, Russia is still a member of the federation, has full member status, and is in second place in the men's world ranking and sixth place in the women's ranking, which shows how great the sporting significance of its absence is for international hockey. However, the ranking by itself does not grant the right to participate if the IIHF Council and the organizational rules of the competition do not allow participation.
The decision of the disciplinary body is especially relevant for future seasons, and not for tournaments that are already in the final phase of organization or implementation. For the 2026/2027 season, it will be important whether the IIHF adopts a new decision with a more detailed explanation or opens the way to a partial return, for example in younger categories. In January 2026, the IIHF had already indicated that the possibility of including players under 18 could be considered for the 2027/2028 season, with a constant assessment of security conditions. That formulation indicates that even before the latest decision, the federation distinguished between the full return of the senior national team and the limited return of younger age groups.
The Olympic framework is separate, but connected with IIHF decisions. For the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee retained the model of individual neutral athletes for persons with Russian or Belarusian passports who qualify and meet strict criteria. According to IOC rules, teams of athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports cannot participate in those Games, which in practice excludes ice hockey national teams as national teams. This means that a possible change of status within the IIHF would not automatically change the Olympic status for Olympic tournaments that have already been held or already defined.
Broader context for international hockey
Russian hockey has significant sporting weight in the international system. According to IIHF data, Russia has more than 90 thousand registered players, a large number of arenas, and a long history of competing at the highest level. Its absence has affected the competitive balance of world championships, Olympic qualifiers, and younger categories. At the same time, decisions on return do not depend only on sporting criteria, but also on the political and security environment after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which international sports organizations have since 2022 taken as the basis for a series of restrictive measures.
For the IIHF, the latest development is legally sensitive because it must align its own statutes, security assessments, and the expectations of members. If decisions are made on the basis of security, they must be sufficiently specific to withstand internal legal proceedings and possible external arbitration. If, however, a path to return is opened, the IIHF will have to determine the conditions, scope, and deadlines, including the question of neutral status, symbols, anthems, travel, accommodation, and match security. According to the IOC's practice so far in other sports, individual neutral status and the ban on national symbols have become one of the models for Russian and Belarusian athletes, but ice hockey as a team sport has additional organizational and political complexities.
For the Russian side, the decision of the disciplinary body represents a rare procedural success in the dispute with the international federation. Nevertheless, the difference between the annulment of one decision and an actual return to tournaments remains crucial. According to the available official information, it has not yet been confirmed at which tournament the Russian national team could appear, under what conditions, and within what time frame. Until the IIHF adopts a new decision or publishes a detailed action plan, the Russian national teams remain outside the current competition schedules, and the question of their return continues to be resolved through legal, security, and sporting procedures.
Sources:
- Russian Ice Hockey Federation – announcement of 28 May 2026 on the acceptance of the objection and annulment of the IIHF Council decision (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – statement of 22 January 2026 on the status of Russian and Belarusian teams for the 2026/2027 season (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – IIHF Council decision of 28 February 2022 on the suspension of Russia and Belarus from competitions (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – Disciplinary Board decision of 5 July 2022 dismissing the appeals of Russia and Belarus (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – statement of 4 February 2025 on the continuation of the exclusion for the 2025/2026 season (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – official profile of Russia as an IIHF member and data on ranking, players, and membership status (link)
- International Ice Hockey Federation – official calendar and schedule of the 2026 World Championship in Switzerland (link)
- International Olympic Committee – official questions and answers on sanctions, the status of Russian and Belarusian athletes, and the model of individual neutral athletes (link)