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The International Ice Hockey Federation recently met to review its risk assessment regarding the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian national and club teams in its competitions for the 2026-27 season.
While there appears to be some momentum toward lifting the ban on the two nations at the youth level, the IIHF is not yet ready to take the full leap toward reintegration. The continued bans come as part of sanctions imposed following the nation’s illegal military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The IIHF released a statement on Thursday outlining their most recent findings:
Following its latest meeting and based on a detailed risk assessment, the IIHF Council believes it is not yet safe to reintegrate the Russian and Belarusian National and Club Teams to its championships for the 2026-2027 season as the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all.
However, the IIHF Council has reviewed the IOC recommendations and will consider the reintegration of youth players (U18) from the Russian and Belarusian National and Club Teams to its championships for the 2027-2028 season. This consideration will remain contingent upon an ongoing assessment of safety and security conditions. If these risks sufficiently reduce over the coming months, the IIHF will work together with the relevant national associations to support a possible reintegration at the youth level.
As the safety and security of all participants and the proper organization of each event remain a clear priority, the IIHF must ensure that these requirements are guaranteed for every tournament. The IIHF will continue to closely monitor the evolving situation and conduct ongoing safety risk analyses.
In response to the statement, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation issued its own statement, expressing disappointment at not being involved in the discussions and its plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The RIHF statement reads as follows:
The Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF) reports that it was not admitted to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Council meeting held on 21 January, and expresses its disappointment at not being able to participate in the discussion and express its position.
The RIHF is convinced that the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to recommend that international federations admit Russian and Belarusian juniors to international tournaments upholds the Olympic movement’s principles of non-discrimination, particularly against young athletes. However, the IIHF took the decision to ignore the IOC’s recommendations.
The RIHF believes that the argument regarding the impossibility of ensuring the safety of participants in international tournaments involving Russian national teams is no longer relevant, lacks any basis, and is merely a formal pretext for denying our country’s participation.
For its part, the RIHF considers this approach unacceptable and will appeal the IIHF’s decision to disqualify our teams from participating in international competitions during the 2026/2027 season to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
While the continued ban and the RIHF planning a legal challenge to it aren’t exactly new, the IIHF’s wording regarding the future reconsideration of participation by under-18 youth players is. The renewed talks on that front come after the International Olympic Committee recommended last month that Russian or Belarusian youth athletes “should not be held accountable for the actions of their governments.”
According to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, full-scale reintegration is unlikely until the war in Ukraine ends. Johnston’s sources say that the governing bodies behind hockey in Sweden, Finland, and Czechia, as well as potentially Canada, would bar their teams from any tournament involving Russia if the war is still ongoing.
“I don’t have the power to stop the war,” IIHF President Luc Tardif told Johnston. “Nobody’s got the power to stop the war. But me, I have to protect my competitions. When the time will be ready, we’re going to bring them inside. We’ve still got contact.
“At the moment, you cannot figure out the organization of a world championship and Russia back in the context of the moment. When it will happen, it will mean the war, and a lot of things will be solved.”
The last senior men’s major competition in which Russian and Belarusian players participated was the 2021 World Championship. Neither the men’s nor the women’s team from either nation will be involved at the 2026 Winter Olympics next month.
The men’s and women’s Russian teams for the tournament were replaced by teams from France, who were the last team eliminated in both respective qualification efforts.
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