Sports court lifts Russia's international hockey ban, clearing Russian teams for world championships

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has opened the way for Russia's return to international ice hockey. The court ruled on Friday that Russian teams can compete in next year's men's and women's world championships, overturning the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)'s decisions to exclude them from its competitions.

The IIHF has excluded Russia from most international ice hockey competitions since 2022, following the country's invasion of Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, four days after Olympic competition ended that year.

Because of the ban, Russia did not compete in Olympic hockey earlier this year, the first since 2014 which had NHL players. Nor was Russia included in the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off.

Russia has won five IIHF world titles as an independent nation, so its return to the world championships is a major development in the sport.

In a brief statement, CAS cited a lack of sufficient evidence to support the IIHF's security concerns. Russia's sports minister, Mikhail Degtyarev, told state television channel Vesti that "discrimination in hockey has been brought to an end," and "this place rightfully belongs to us."

The IIHF disagreed with the ruling. The federation said it maintains that its decisions were necessary to protect the safety and security of all participants and safeguard the integrity of its competitions.

Canada also opposed the decision. Canada will host the World Junior Championships later this year. Canada's Secretary of State for sport, Adam van Koeverden, said via The Athletic that Canada maintains, as it has since 2022, that Russia should not be represented in international sport competitions while Russia's illegal and unjustifiable full-scale invasion against Ukraine continues. He said Canada will maintain restrictions on the participation of Russian athletes at events hosted in Canada that receive funding from the Government of Canada and explore further options to ensure that the Russian government is held accountable.

Ukraine's ice hockey federation denounced the ruling while respecting the authority of the CAS. The federation said on its website that it wished to express deep outrage at the decision, taken amid a full-scale war. It said the threats that were the reason for suspending Russian teams in 2022 have not disappeared and have only intensified, and that the safety of participants and the integrity of international sport cannot be considered separately from the realities of the war Russia continues to wage against Ukraine.

Other countries to oppose the decision include Germany, Finland, Czechia, Sweden and Austria.

The first tournament to be affected by the change will be the World Juniors, and Germany will host the World Championships next year.