CAS ruling readmits Russia to international ice hockey
Ban imposed after 2022 invasion overturned, lowest-ranked Ukraine likely loses its World Championship seat to the aggressor
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Vladmir Putin har alltid varit en stor vän av ishockey. Bild: Mikhail Metzel/All Over Press
Mikhail Metzel/All Over Press
Ryssland har inte deltagit i VM sedan turneringen i Lettland 2021. Bild: CTK/All Over Press
CTK/All Over Press
Rysslands största hockeystjärna, Aleksandr Ovetjkin. Arkivbild.Foto: Pavel Bednyakov/AP/TT
Pavel Bednyakov/AP/TT
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled that Russia must be readmitted to international ice hockey, overturning the ban imposed after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The decision covers the men's and junior World Championships and the women's World Championship, all scheduled for 2027 — and the junior tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer begins on Dec. 26.
The immediate problem is arithmetic. Match schedules were fixed long ago, and adding a team means removing one. Because Ukraine is the lowest-ranked qualified nation, it is Ukraine that would in all probability drop out of the men's World Championship in Germany. The country that was invaded loses its seat to the country that invaded it, by ranking.
Veteran Finnish hockey administrator Kalervo Kummola called the decision shocking and, more unusually for the sporting establishment, said plainly what it is: 'a big victory' for Vladimir Putin. Kummola recalled that before the Sochi Olympics, Putin stated that nothing meant as much to him as Olympic gold on home soil — and that a couple of days after Finland eliminated Russia in that tournament, the annexation of Crimea began. Kummola said the decision should have waited until after the war, and that he would rather see the tournament played with 17 countries than have Ukraine pushed out.
Hockey Canada says the implications of the ruling are 'not immediately clear' and is in contact with the International Ice Hockey Federation. The junior championship begins in under two months, with schedules, venues and ticketing already in place.
The Finnish association's chairman, Heikki Hietanen, said a Finnish boycott is not currently on the table — but also conceded that the federation cannot require an individual player to take the ice against Russia. The players, in other words, will decide for themselves.
Russia has not played a World Championship since the 2021 tournament in Latvia.