The International Ice Hockey Federation challenged a sports arbitration ruling on Friday that ordered the reinstatement of Russian teams to international competition.
North American media reports indicated that the IIHF filed its challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport because two of the three panel members who decided to reinstate Russia had undisclosed business ties to the country, as TSN hockey Gord Miller reported.
“The IIHF has filed a challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the grounds that two of the three panel members in the decision to reinstate Russia had undisclosed business ties to Russia,” Gord Miller reported on TSN.
The CAS panel that ordered Russia’s return was chaired by Italian arbitrator Giulio Palermo, who spoke at an arbitration conference in Moscow this autumn and moderated a discussion there. Egyptian arbitrator Ismail Selim, another member of the three-person panel, also visited Moscow last year, alongside British arbitrator Mark Hovels.
In late October, the Switzerland-based CAS ruled that the IIHF must reinstate Russian national teams across five international tournaments. That ruling overturned an IIHF suspension that had kept Russian teams off the ice since February 2022 following the country’s military invasion of Ukraine.
The IIHF originally justified its ban on safety concerns rather than the conflict itself, a rationale the sports court ultimately rejected as insufficient for indefinite exclusion.
Eight national federations, including Latvia, announced they would refuse to play against Russia while the conflict in Ukraine continues.
Finland and Norway banned Russian athletes from competing on their home soil, while Sweden prepared a similar restriction. Meanwhile, the Canadian government stated it would block Russian entry into all team sports regardless of visa status.
The IIHF has filed a challenge with the Court of Arbitration for Sport on the grounds that two of the three panel members in the decision to reinstate Russia had undisclosed business ties to Russia, per TSN’s Gord Miller. pic.twitter.com/LsIYZCJxqp
"The tournament would be rendered meaningless," said Luc, describing how potential group-stage boycotts would impact upcoming events, according to TVNET Sports, while warning of financial risks for the German Ice Hockey Federation.
The first tournament impacted by the CAS ruling is the upcoming U-20 World Junior Championship, scheduled to begin on December 26 in Alberta, Canada. Tournament organizers in Canada stated unequivocally that Russian players would not be permitted to enter the event.
In Europe, the German Ice Hockey Federation faced severe economic exposure with 250,000 tickets already sold for the 2027 Men’s World Championship in Düsseldorf and Mannheim, scheduled from May 14 to May 30.
German sports state secretary Ronald Rauhe said that Canada’s refusal to grant visas for the junior tournament does not resolve the broader regulatory conflict, leaving the German government searching for alternative solutions with domestic stakeholders.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has not yet announced a timetable to review the IIHF’s newly filed challenge regarding the undisclosed business connections of the panel members.
The next major checkpoint arrives on December 26, when the U-20 World Junior Championship opens in Alberta without Russian participation under the host nation’s stated restrictions.
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