Russia, which has been functionally banned from international hockey for more than four years, must be allowed to return to international events starting in December in Canada. That's the ruling today by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest sport court in the land. But there's a whole lot still unsettled, including a looming shitshow at next year's World Championships.
The International Ice Hockey Federation banned the Russian member association in February 2022, as did almost every other sport's Olympic federation following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That war is still ongoing, but in July of this year the IOC lifted its blanket ban on Russian Olympic committees, and said that its recommendations to individual sport federations no longer apply. Ukraine is currently appealing that decision.
(This is tricky business, and I'm glad it's not up to me to decide. Should individual athletes be punished for their government's actions? Or is a ban of Russia's prestigious hockey program more accurately a punishment of the country as a whole? But then, why Russia and not some other war-starting, international law-ignoring countries I could name and/or live in?)
Today's CAS ruling is relatively narrow. It is an overturning of the IIHF's ruling to bar Russia from 2026–27 events because of "safety and security concerns." That could be anything from prohibitive costs of providing security for protests at events, to actual acts of violence. But the CAS three-person panel, with members from Italy, Egypt, and the U.K., "found that the IIHF arguments citing safety, security and other concerns were not supported by sufficient evidence."
Needless to say, many major national hockey federations are unhappy with the ruling. The Finns called the decision "incomprehensible"; Austria said it "regrets" the ruling; Germany says outright that it "rejects" the return of Russian teams. The World Cup of Hockey, a joint NHL-NHLPA event and not subject to IIHF decisions, said via deputy commissioner Bill Daily that the CAS ruling is "obviously a relevant piece of information that will be part of all factors we will have to weigh in making our decision" on whether to invite Russia to the 2028 tournament.
So what next? The first tournament covered by today's ruling will be the World Juniors in Alberta starting in December. After that comes the U18 Women's and U18 Men's championships, in Czechia and the U.S., respectively.
But a big showdown is pending at Men's Worlds, in Germany in May 2027. The full 16 teams have already been drawn for the tournament. To add Russia would likely require booting the last team to qualify and the lowest-ranked among the 16, which is ... Ukraine. So you see the problem.
If Russia would like to avoid that awkwardness, it could pull its soldiers out of Ukraine and return the territory it's occupied since 2014. Simple as.
