Officially, the President of the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) Rene Fezel has not canceled the World Championship in Minsk. When he was scheduled to visit Belarus, he fell ill with Covid-19, but his recovery is going well. And when it is possible, he will definitely go to Minsk.
However, the search for alternatives to Belarus is also in full swing. watson.ch emphasizes that the best opportunities are in Latvia (Riga), the Czech Republic (Prague) and Slovakia (Bratislava).
“We will be hosting the 2021 World Cup. We can’t afford two years without it,” Fozel said in a conversation with the portal, hinting that the 2020 World Championships in Switzerland were canceled.
The 2021 championship is scheduled for Riga and Minsk, but most hockey experts are inclined to the option that the competition will be moved from Belarus to another country.
“If necessary, we will hold the world championship without spectators,” says Fegel.
It is not yet clear whether the teams will survive the so-called “bubble” in the NHL playoffs and the Junior World Championships in Edmonton. Fuselel hopes to be able to vaccinate contestants by April and avoid the “bubble”, which is an expensive event.
IIHF is ready to cover the costs of hosting the tournament without spectators. This is possible because this season, with the exception of the World U-20 Championships and the World Championships for adults, all other tournaments (women, juniors, lower world championship groups) have been canceled. Therefore, IIHF saves costs in more than ten tournaments.
The president of the IIHF, in his 25th year as president, says he has not yet given up hope that the championship will take place in Belarus. However, even if Alexander Lukashenko leaves the post of President of Belarus, political stability in the country is not guaranteed, and the portal does not rule out an invasion of the Russian armed forces.
However, it is likely that Fezel will go to Minsk to personally announce to Lukashenko that the tournament will not take place in Belarus next year.
From the mentioned alternatives, the author of the Internet portal rejects Russia and one of the Scandinavian countries, as well as the possibility for Latvia to organize competitions alone.
Fazel says, “We have two or three alternatives.”
The St. Petersburg option is no longer possible due to the two-year disqualification imposed on Russia for covering up doping at the national level.
Latvia’s minus is only one arena with ten thousand spectators.
Fuselel says that each group needs large arenas. “If the competition is to take place with a limited number of spectators, we need a large arena,” he explains. If, for example, due to the restrictions of Covid-19, only half of the seats will be allowed, then the decisive factor is the size of the arena, so that as many fans as possible can see the competition. In this case, Latvia’s position is also worse than that of competitors who can offer even several such halls in one city.
In Scandinavia, the World Championship in 2021 is unlikely to take place, as it is already scheduled for Finland in 2022 and Sweden in 2025.
Fuselel tells the portal that “under the current conditions, the World Cup in the Czech Republic or Slovakia cannot be ruled out”. The advantage is the organization of tournaments of this scale in advance and the hockey culture in these countries.
An important factor is cost. It is therefore estimated that it is unlikely that the competition will be postponed beyond the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where it is much cheaper to host than in the West. This would mean excluding Denmark, which successfully held the competition in 2018, Germany, or last year’s failed Switzerland.
It has already been reported that Minsk and Riga should host the 2021 World Cup next year, but the Latvian government does not want to hold a tournament with Belarus because the Lukashenko regime is cracking down on peaceful protesters. The European Union and other Western countries consider the August 9 presidential election to be rigged and do not recognize Lukashenko as a legitimate president.
Several people have died, hundreds have been injured and some 30,000 have been detained in protests since the August 9 presidential election in Belarus.
IIHF has promised to provide an answer on the organizers of the 2021 World Cup by January 11, 2021.
Riga and Minsk beat the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Tampere in a fierce battle in May 2017. It is planned that group tournaments and two quarterfinals will take place in Riga and Minsk, but the semifinals and the finals will be held in the capital of Belarus.
In May, the IIHF decided that Latvia, Canada, Finland, the USA, Germany, Norway, Italy and Kazakhstan would play in Group B in Riga, while Belarus, Russia, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark and Great Britain would fight in Group A.
The Minsk World Cup was also hosted in 2014, and already at that time the European Parliament called on the IIHF to prevent Belarus from hosting the championship, citing the authorities’ repression of the opposition.
In 2022 it is planned to host the tournament for Finland (Helsinki and Tampere), in 2023 – for Russia (St. Petersburg), in 2024 for the Czech Republic (Prague and Ostrava), and in 2025 – for Sweden and Denmark.
The 2021 World Championship is scheduled for May 21 to June 6. It was previously planned that the championship would start on May 7, but it was postponed a couple of weeks ahead because the national championships in Europe could be delayed.
Riga has hosted the World Championships for the only time so far in 2006.
Others are currently reading
Lukashenko’s sanatorium in Jurmala escapes sanctions
The murder case of the Aizpute businessman: after more than 20 years, the killer will be brought to justice
How to avoid falling icicles and injuries on slippery streets
.
