The decision comes immediately after the Court of Arbitration for Sport concluded on Friday that safety concerns were insufficient to maintain the international federation's 2022 restrictions. In response, Canadian leadership aligned policy with hockey federations across Northern and Eastern Europe that are refusing to face Russian competitors. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha endorsed these boycott measures and publicly called on host countries to withhold travel visas from Russian players. Consequently, global tournament organizers now face uncertainty regarding participation and scheduling for impending international events.
Key points
Russian players will not be permitted to take the ice at the world junior championship st…: Russian players will not be permitted to take the ice at the world junior championship starting December 26 in Alberta.
Diplomatic officials from Ukraine are urging all prospective tournament host nations to a…: Diplomatic officials from Ukraine are urging all prospective tournament host nations to actively deny visas to Russian hockey players.
Cities scheduled to host international hockey tournaments worldwide must now evaluate whe…: Cities scheduled to host international hockey tournaments worldwide must now evaluate whether to stage their events amidst escalating boycott efforts.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Canada has joined a coalition of countries refusing to play ice hockey teams from Russia, with prime minister Mark Carney saying Russian skaters will not be able to compete in a world junior championship next month due to the war in Ukraine.
“While Russia and Belarus are supporting this illegal, unjustified, horrific war in Ukraine, as long as that’s going on, there will be none of those athletes competing for their countries in Canada,” Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
Carney’s comments follow announcements by a growing number of national hockey federations that they will not play Russian teams, after a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to allow Russians to compete in International Ice Hockey Federation (IHF) events.
An IIHF ban on Russian teams took effect after Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended annually.
After several appeals by Russia’s hockey federation, the CAS finally lifted the ban on Friday, contending safety and security worries “were not supported by sufficient evidence”.
On Monday, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association asked other…
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