Strauss May Withdraw Sponsorship If Russia Joins 2027 Hockey WM

Sports equipment manufacturer Strauss has threatened to pull its sponsorship from the upcoming Ice Hockey World Championships if the Russian national team participates following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The International Sport Court of Arbitration in Lausanne overturned the suspension of Russian national teams from world championships, a ban that had been in place since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, DIE WELT reported. The court said that judges found the reasons provided by the International Ice Hockey Federation for the suspension to be insufficient.

The ruling immediately impacts the tournament scheduled for next year in Germany, where seven nations—including Czechia, Sweden, and world champion Finland—have already announced they will refuse to play against Russia. Despite the looming prospect of a boycott, the German Ice Hockey Federation has ruled out returning the tournament.

“We want to hold the World Championship in Germany next year and I am also very optimistic that we will manage it,” said Frank Lutz, CEO of the German Ice Hockey Federation.

The Biebergemünd-based company Strauss has partnered with the Ice Hockey World Championship since 2021 and has sponsored the Champions Hockey League since 2014.

“After our partner IIHF reaffirmed the exclusion of Russia in July, the CAS decision came as a surprise to us. From our perspective, the time for a return of the Russian national team has not yet come,” a Strauss spokesperson told DIE WELT.

“The reasons for the exclusion from 2022 continue to exist from our point of view. Russia's participation would have changed how we assessed a corresponding sponsorship when the contract was signed.”

The company stated it is currently evaluating contractual options and remains in close dialogue with the IIHF regarding the status of the agreement.

The logo of the family-run enterprise has been a fixture in international ice hockey for years. If pulling out of the sponsorship contracts proves legally impossible, the company intends to scale back its visibility entirely.

“Our family name is on the advertising boards. We bear personal responsibility for which events we support with this name,” the Strauss spokesperson told DIE WELT. “Should the national team of Russia participate in the 2027 World Championship in Germany as a result of the CAS ruling, we will dispense with any logo presence in the environment of the tournament.”

The German federal government is supporting the federation’s efforts to stage the event without Russia.

The IIHF aims to persuade Russia diplomatically to abstain from the tournament voluntarily, potentially offering a structured and permanent return beginning in 2028 as an accommodation.

“We welcome the position of the federal government that Russia’s participation makes hosting the tournament practically impossible both in sporting and economic terms,” the Strauss spokesperson told DIE WELT. “Therefore, we rely on the federal government to intervene politically in case of doubt.”

Denying visas to the Russian national team remains a potential political intervention, though the federal government has hesitated to take that step, partly out of consideration for Munich’s Olympic bid. Government officials currently view the IIHF as responsible for resolving the issue within the autonomy of sport.