IIHF upholds ban on Russia, Belarus for 2024-25 season
Published
The International Ice Hockey Federation announced Monday that the bans on Russia and Belarus will continue through the 2024-25 season.
In February 2022, the IIHF council voted to ban Russia and Belarus from international competitions after Russia invaded Ukraine and with the war still ongoing, they upheld the decision for another season.
"Today, during one of its regularly scheduled meetings, the IIHF Council reviewed the current safety risks associated with reincorporating the Russian and the Belarusian National and Club Teams into IIHF Competitions," the IIHF said in a statement. "Based on a thorough analysis, the IIHF Council concluded that it is not yet safe to reincorporate the Russian and Belarusian Teams back into IIHF Competitions. Therefore, Russia and Belarus will not participate in the 2024/2025 IIHF championship season. This decision will also apply to the Belarusian team regarding the Final Olympic Qualification Round that will be played in August 2024.
"As it has been done over the past years, the IIHF Council will continue to monitor the situation, with the latest date to determine if it is safe to reincorporate Russia and Belarus for the 2025/2026 Championship season in May 2025 at the IIHF Council meeting ahead of the IIHF Annual Congress."
Russia and Belarus are not eligible to play at the men's and women's world championships and U18s as well as the World Juniors.
Belarus has also been disqualified from the final round of men's Olympic qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.