The International Ice Hockey Federation has approved the dates for the World Championship, the composition of the participants and the format of the event. The main championship of the planet will be held in the Czech Republic. The strongest teams will come to the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2024, with the exception of some favorites. Several scandals have already flared up around the competition, which are very difficult to figure out on your own.
Date and venue
Where the Ice Hockey World Championship will be held in 2024 was decided on May 24, 2019. The Czech Republic became the host, and the games will be played at the stadiums in Prague and Ostrava. Dates - May 10-16. Qualifications have been going on since February. Official number of teams - 16.
The main and most media matches will be held in Prague. The arena with a capacity of 17,000 people will be able to receive all fans from other countries. Less high-profile matches will be held at the Oastavar Arena, which is much worse prepared.
Format
Competitions start from the group stage: 8 teams will play each other, and the first four go to the playoffs. National teams are sorted by rating: strong participants will not have to often collide with each other until the final stage.
The competition also serves as qualification for the 2025 World Cup. All teams that take 1-7 places automatically advance to the next games. The remaining 2 places are played between the participants of the I division.
Automatically, the host team is eligible for direct participation. Even if the national team does not pass through the I division, and it has no chances at the international level at all, the athletes go to the group stage.
The first 4 teams of each group will advance to the playoffs. Then there are knock-out matches. Already from the stage of the 1/8 finals, intense matches with well-known participants are expected.
Line-ups
Group A looks a bit weaker on paper. In the list of participants:
- USA;
- Sweden;
- Germany;
- Slovakia;
- Latvia;
- Kazakhstan;
- Poland;
- France.
Group B has two favorites. Members:
- Finland;
- Canada;
- Switzerland;
- Czech Republic;
- Denmark;
- Norway;
- Austria;
- UK.
Great Britain and Poland were selected through qualifiers. They beat the teams of other countries to go to international competitions.
Where is Russia
Team was suspended from participation. This trend has developed in almost all sports disciplines: football, basketball, hockey, Olympic sports. Individual representatives of the country can act under a neutral flag, but some even refused to do so.
In 2023, the issue of participation was actively discussed. Almost all representatives of the committees spoke out against it. Officials considered aggression sufficient reason not to allow athletes to compete at this level.
On the other side were the NHL and some representatives of Eastern Europe. The US National Hockey League has made several statements that sport is out of politics and famous people should be given the opportunity to defend the interests of their team. We tried to find an alternative - at least a performance under a neutral flag.
Decisive was the refusal to hold the Youth World Cup in May. At first, the media were concerned about profits: without a strong team, interest in such a competition would plummet.The opposite situation happened - against the backdrop of scandals, much more people watched the youth team. The ratings ended up being higher.
This situation had a negative impact on the decision on the national team. Since it makes no sense to go against the European majority simply because of the "fairness" of the competition, they decided to suspend until the end of the conflict.
According to rumors, even if the conflict drags on for a few more years, athletes will be allowed to compete. The main obstacle is the unification of European countries and their sports colleges.
In the future, the national team will either have to play qualifications. There is no doubt that the athletes will pass them, but this is the loss of one year. Or the committee will allow the World Cup to be held, which will make it possible to automatically pass to the group stage. The second option seems a bit easier, but after the disqualifications and not being admitted to international competitions, the country is unlikely to be given the opportunity to host serious events.
Favorite groups and play-offs
Finns are considered one of the main favorites for the cup. The country has seriously taken up such championships: while the well-known participants are still thinking whether to go or not, the northerners put up a very strong team every time. The head coach almost every year manages to persuade NHL players to go for medals.
Team Canada has been collecting one of the worst squads for several years. Most international stars refuse to go to the World Cup because of the tight schedule, commercial filming, heavy training program. The decision on Canadians, corny, have practically no one to compete with at this level. If they bring all their stars, then any tournament can be closed.
Czechs and Germans can be certain dark horses. When no one believes in these teams, they show a good result. They reach prize-winning places, impose a fight on the stars on ice. This time, most likely, they will be ready for them, so no expectations.
USA is a total disappointment. Because they don't want to field really good players at all, they have to play with the youth. This situation has been happening for several years now. The World Cup lacks the prestige of other sports. Now it's like playing in the sandbox when the main stars of the countries don't even want to think about it.
The Ice Hockey World Championship in 2024 will be held in the Czech Republic. All the well-known European giants have gathered, as well as the US and Canadian teams. As expected, there will be no competition. The only positive change is that our team can count on participation next year, because almost all the members of the international committee expressed their support for the athletes. Canada, Sweden and Finland were recognized as favorites. Below the level is Germany, from which you can expect a miracle and the United States.
