MINSK, 18 January (BelTA) – The 2021 IIHF World Championship will not take place in Belarus. A new location for the championship will be determined later. The Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation made the relevant decision on 18 January, BelTA has learned.
The press release reads: “Due to safety and security issues that are beyond the IIHF's control, the IIHF Council confirmed today that the decision to move the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship from Minsk, Belarus is unavoidable.”
According to the source, the IIHF Council will consider the status of Latvia as a co-host and will also evaluate the possibility of moving to a single-venue format to facilitate COVID-19 safety regulations and team travel.
The 84th edition of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship was initially supposed to take place in ice arenas in Minsk, Belarus and Riga, Latvia on 21 May – 6 June. This decision was made at the congress of the International Ice Hockey Federation in Cologne, Germany in May 2017.
