Germany is openly considering walking away from hosting the biggest tournament in the sport. The threat came within days of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) must lift its ban on Russian national teams for the 2026-27 season.
“I do not want to paint a black picture. I do not want to question the world championship either. But of course, we at the DEB also have to consider the option that we hand back this championship,” German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) chief executive Frank H. Lutz told the German news agency dpa, as reported by Yahoo Sports.
The 2027 Men’s World Championship is scheduled for 14 to 30 May 2027 in Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Gelsenkirchen, with the DEB having expected multimillion-euro profits from the tournament.
CAS said the evidence was not there
The CAS panel ruled on Friday, 30 October 2026, after hearings in Lausanne the previous week. It upheld an appeal by the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and ordered the IIHF to clear Russian teams for all five of its top-tier 2026-27 events: the men’s and women’s World Championships, the men’s and women’s Under-18 events, and the World Junior Championship.
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The panel found that the IIHF’s arguments about safety and security were not backed up by enough evidence to justify the exclusion, according to coverage of the ruling. The IIHF had banned Russia and Belarus after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and reaffirmed that position in both January and June of this year.
The IIHF said it would comply but would not shift its view.
“While the IIHF respects the authority of CAS and will act in accordance with its ruling, the outcome does not remove the concerns that informed its assessments,” the governing body said in a statement.
The IIHF council is scheduled to meet on Monday, 2 November, to discuss the practical next steps, according to the dpa report.
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Berlin’s visa card
The German federal government may yet make the decision for the IIHF. A government spokesman told dpa that Berlin took “a very critical view” of the CAS decision and would discuss the consequences with the DEB, including for the 2027 world championship.
Germany has run a restrictive visa policy toward Russia since the war began, and Lutz has not ruled out the federal authorities simply refusing entry to the Russian squad. Canada has already said it will not grant visas to Russian players for the World Junior Championship, which runs from 26 December in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Lutz, speaking separately on the day of the ruling, said the federation’s stance on Russian participation had not softened.
“Our position remains unchanged: We reject the return of Russian national teams to international ice hockey tournaments,” he said.
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Finland, Czechia and Austria line up alongside
Opposition to the Russian return extends well beyond Berlin. Finland’s federation called the ruling “incomprehensible”. Chairman Heikki Hietanen said there were “no grounds for the participation of Russia or Belarus in international ice hockey activities under the current circumstances”.
The Czech and Austrian federations issued statements of their own, both rejecting Russia’s reintroduction. No federation has formally announced a boycott.
Russia welcomed the verdict. Sports minister Mikhail Degtyaryov said the CAS ruling “puts an end to the issue, as it’s final and not subject to appeal”, the Moscow Times reported.
The DEB is due to take the hosting question to its board in the coming days, with the men’s tournament in Germany now just over six months away.
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