IIHF Disciplinary Board rejects appeals from Russia, Belarus

The independent IIHF Disciplinary Board has rejected the appeals submitted by the Russian and Belarusian Ice Hockey Federations against the decision to ban their national teams from IIHF competitions.

The IIHF banned both Russia and Belarus from international play until further notice on Feb. 28, moving the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship out of Russia at that time. The federation announced in April that the 2023 IIHF World Championship would also be moved out of Russia.

The IIHF Disciplinary Board listed the following the reasons for rejecting the appeals of the two federations:

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.

“We maintain that this decision was taken out of concern for the safety and well-being of players, staff, officials, media, and spectators, and we are pleased that the Board has agreed. The independent board supported our view that it would have been an unacceptable safety risk to either host the WM20 and WM in Russia or to have the Russian and Belarusian teams currently participating in IIHF competitions.”

With the IIHF having made its final ruling, the two federations can now appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.