{"id":422352,"date":"2026-01-22T21:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/422352\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:44:15","slug":"iihf-signals-russia-could-be-allowed-to-return-to-u-18-hockey-events-in-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/422352\/","title":{"rendered":"IIHF signals Russia could be allowed to return to U-18 hockey events in 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Ice Hockey Federation has determined that it isn\u2019t safe to reintegrate Russia and Belarus into competitions for the 2026-27 season, but is leaving the door open<\/a> to ease sanctions against youth players from those countries, starting with tournaments held the following year.<\/p>\n

That decision came out of the IIHF Council meeting held on Wednesday and represents the federation\u2019s first public shift toward welcoming back countries that have been forbidden from international hockey since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n

The IIHF Council is following recommendations from the International Olympic Committee, which said last month that youth athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports should be allowed to compete under their national flag and anthem, and \u201cshould not be held accountable for the actions of their governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the decision, the earliest Russia and Belarus would be permitted to return for a top-flight hockey competition is the 2028 under-18 women\u2019s world championship, which is scheduled to be played in Canada from Jan. 8 to 16. A location for the 2028 men\u2019s under-18 championship hasn\u2019t been announced yet. It is due to be played from April 20 to 30 that year.<\/p>\n

The IIHF Council announced Thursday that its decision is contingent upon an ongoing assessment of safety and security conditions. It has repeatedly cited safety concerns as the primary reason for keeping Russia and Belarus sidelined from competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these risks sufficiently reduce over the coming months, the IIHF will work together with the relevant national associations to support a possible reintegration at the youth level,\u201d the IIHF said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Having Russian and Belarusian players return for under-18 tournaments would be the first step to a full-scale reintegration of those countries. Existing sanctions will have kept them out of at least six world championships at every level following the IIHF\u2019s decision to exclude the countries through 2027, plus next month\u2019s Milan Cortina Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Russian Ice Hockey Federation later on Thursday announced<\/a> that it will appeal the decision, seeking earlier reentry for its under-18 teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RIHF believes that the argument regarding the impossibility of ensuring the safety of participants in international tournaments involving Russian national teams is no longer relevant, lacks any basis, and is merely a formal pretext for denying our country\u2019s participation,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe RIHF considers this approach unacceptable and will appeal the IIHF\u2019s decision to disqualify our teams from participating in international competitions during the 2026\/2027 season to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s a clear desire to bring Russia and Belarus back into the fold, it likely won\u2019t be possible without the end of the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

One source with a strong working knowledge of international hockey governance said this week that it\u2019s highly unlikely Finland, Sweden or Czechia would agree to play in any tournament featuring a team from Russia with the war ongoing. The source also questioned whether the Canadian government would allow its athletes to participate in such an event, given the current political climate.<\/p>\n

That has put hockey\u2019s governing body in a tough position.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody will be happy when they will be back in the family,\u201d IIHF President Luc Tardif told The Athletic. \u201cWhen we (are) going to do that, it means a lot of things are settled. I don\u2019t have the power to stop the war. Nobody\u2019s got the power to stop the war. But me, I have to protect my competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the time will be ready, we\u2019re going to bring them inside. We\u2019ve still got contact. At the moment, you cannot figure out the organization of a world championship and Russia back in the context of the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it will happen, it will mean the war, and a lot of things will be solved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The International Ice Hockey Federation has determined that it isn\u2019t safe to reintegrate Russia and Belarus into competitions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,52575,4,2602,52590],"class_list":{"0":"post-422352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mens-olympic-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-womens-olympic-hockey"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115940941416727425","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}