The IIHF has rejected appeals from the Russian and Belarusian hockey federations regarding the suspensions of both teams from IIHF tournaments.
The IIHF banned both teams from 2022 events on Feb. 28 following the invasion of Ukraine. The IIHF removed Russia’s hosting privileges from both the World Junior Championship and men’s World Championship next year while not allowing Russian/Belarusian players and officials to compete. The IIHF later confirmed that neither team will compete in 2023 World Championship events, either.
The IIHF rejected the appeals on these grounds:
– That the decision of the IIHF Council on February 28th was not a sanction but was a safety policy
-That the IIHF Council had the authority to adopt and implement a safety policy pursuant to IIHF Statute 4 and Statute 15.4.4.1.w
-That the IIHF had sufficient information before it upon which to adopt and implement a safety policy, both in terms of previous reports and recent experiences as well as direct knowledge and backgrounds of the members of the Council; and
– That the safety policy was not discriminatory and was proportionate
“We welcome the decision of the independent IIHF Disciplinary Board, which supports the IIHF Council’s decision to disallow the participation of the Russian and Belarusian teams and to withdraw the two World Championship program events that were scheduled to take place in Russia next season,” IIHF President Luc Tardif said.
The announcement comes as the IIHF’s final decision on the matter, with both groups allowed to now appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
