Skates dropped: Russia and Belarus will miss the main hockey tournaments of the year
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has extended the suspension of the national teams of Belarus and Russia, explaining this for "security reasons." Izvestia has studied what is behind this decision and what its true nature is.
One more year
The Russian national ice hockey team is definitely skipping all the major tournaments in 2026. All hopes that the International Ice Hockey Federation, even at the last moment, would make a positive decision — if not on the Olympic Games in Milan, then at least on the World Cup in Switzerland — were dashed by the IIHF directive stating that Russia and Belarus would not be at these tournaments "for security reasons.".
The Russian national ice hockey team at the XXIV Winter Olympic Games 2022
In reality, the reasons for the suspension are simple and are part of Russia's "cancellation" even before the start of the special military operation (neutral status on trumped-up and unproven charges appeared long before 2022), and after the start of its military and ideological support by European and American political elites for the Ukrainian regime meant war on all fronts, including sports. But the full text of the IIHF council's statement looks like this today:
"Following the results of the last meeting and based on a detailed risk assessment, the IIHF Council believes that it is not yet safe to restore the participation of national and club teams of Russia and Belarus in the 2026/2027 season, as current security conditions do not allow us to ensure the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments that guarantee the safety of all participants."
No matter how ridiculous such a formulation may look, it still makes sense.
Who is in danger
Oddly enough, there is a problem. Hockey players are transported on buses with escorts, and there are no questions by definition. But the fans are another matter. There is no certainty who will be safer when Russian national team fans clash with anyone in Italy or Switzerland, but the local authorities definitely do not need this. Given the international situation, clashes between fans at hockey will definitely not add ratings, and an international scandal is guaranteed. But what does the safety of all participants have to do with it?
Risk assessment
There are indeed risks. The tournaments will be held in NATO member states, whose position on the Russian—Ukrainian conflict has not changed at all. It's not hard to imagine how the Russian national team wins the World Cup. It is also easy to imagine the reaction of the public and the corresponding media effect from the playing of the national anthem in honor of the sporting victory of our country.
Of course, justifying the exclusion from the IIHF tournaments of one of the strongest national teams in the world, and with it the Belarusian team, is absurd and lawless. But it was not possible to find any other decent reason for such a decision - neither the rules of the World Championships nor the Olympic Charter provide for such punishments. But it was necessary to obey the global agenda of the globalists contrary to the letter of the law.
But that's not all. By continuing to persist in illegal and discriminatory decisions, the International Ice Hockey Federation itself carries not only reputational and image risks, but, more importantly, financial risks. But to do this, you need to clearly understand what the IIHF's income consists of.
Where does the money come from
The International Ice Hockey Federation is one of the most conservative today in terms of bans on the participation of Russia and Belarus in their main tournaments. But she is one of the most independent in her decisions, simply because they are dictated by sponsors and the international agenda, and not by the charter of the organization.
The most important factor for understanding the situation is information about the sources of IIHF funding. There are three of them: income from the Olympic Hockey Tournament (shared with the IOC) and income from the sale of television and marketing rights to broadcast the World Championships, as well as income from advertising. Of course, the IIHF does not "trade" all this itself (it has no right), but through Infront Sports and Media (ISM), which has multi-year contracts not only with hockey, but also with FIFA and 200 other international competitions and tournaments.
ISM's office is located, of course, in Switzerland, and the head of the company is Philippe Blatter, the nephew of Joseph Blatter, the longtime president of FIFA and UEFA, whom Western journalists dubbed the "Don Corleone of modern football" for numerous allegations of corruption and lobbying. Let's add that this is not only about television rights, but also about marketing and betting rights. The ISM has been repeatedly accused of corruption, but, as in the cases of the IOC, it has never received a concrete result.
The third source of income has always been sponsors, among which we will single out a multi-year (already 32 years old) contract with the Czech-German Skoda.
It follows directly from the above: the income of the IIHF directly depends on the income of the IOC and the popularity of hockey in the world. Both depend, not least, on Russia and Belarus, or rather on their participation in tournaments. And this is not only a matter of sports competition — fans of these two countries are traditionally among the most numerous visitors to the world Championships, which means that the exclusion of the two countries has directly affected the income of the tournament organizers.
Finally, there are not many countries in Europe today that are willing to finance and organize the World Championships in principle. That year, the modest Danish city of Herning and the very expensive Stockholm were chosen out of desperation, since Finland (two years in a row), the Czech Republic and Switzerland were very recent, and the World Cup in Latvia was remembered for the lack of a second modern arena and games in a hastily assembled hangar for 5,000 spectators. But Russia and Belarus, with their beautiful modern palaces, were excluded, so from this point of view, the IIHF has critically lost revenue. But these decisions are made not in Lausanne, but in Brussels and Washington.
Guns instead of ice
All these reasons explain why Luc Tardif, the president of the IIHF, is a native of Canada, which means that he understands everything about hockey, cannot simply cancel ridiculous market restrictions: he did not set them, and it is not for him to cancel them. This means that the IIHF will suffer, but it will not change its mind, trying its best to keep our country and its Belarusian neighbors out of the IIHF Olympics and World Championships, even if it causes huge losses and kills the intrigue of the tournament.
Luke Tardif
"Everyone will be happy when Russia and Belarus return to the family. This will mean that a lot has been settled. I don't have the power to stop armed conflicts. No one has, but I have to protect our competition. When the time comes, we will return them. We are still in contact. In the current situation, it is impossible to organize a World Cup with Russia's participation. This will happen when the conflict is over and many things are resolved," commented the head of the IIHF.
These words of Tardif explain everything. "We want to, but we can't make this decision: we don't have the power to do it." This means that Russia will return to winning on the ice when it wins on the battlefield.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
