Tampere and Riga still have a competitor to host next year’s World Cup.
Harri Nummela does not confirm the withdrawal of Slovenia and Hungary. Jaakko Stenroos / AOP
Chairman of the Finnish Hockey Association Harri Nummela does not confirm the rumor that appeared in Iltalehti yesterday that Slovenia and Hungary had withdrawn their application for next year’s World Cup.
– We do not have official information about the withdrawal of Slovenia and Hungary, Nummela said.
Initially, next year’s World Cup was to be held in St. Petersburg, but the IIHF withdrew its host from Russia, which had invaded Ukraine at the end of April.
Thus, the joint application of Tampere and Riga of Latvia and the application of Ljubljana in Slovenia and Budapest in Hungary are still candidates for replacement.
The decision on next year’s host will be resolved on Friday when the IIHF’s decision-making bodies meet in Tampere.
– The IIHF’s annual meeting will begin on Thursday and will proceed on the agenda. Decisions are likely to be made on Friday.
– All IIHF member states have the right to vote for the organizing country, Nummela opened.
The IIHF has 82 member countries and all have one vote.
It will be interesting to see whether Russia and Belarus, which are closed at this spring’s World Cup, will be able to take part in the vote. However, Nummela did not know the answer to this.