In today's meeting, the IIHF Council discussed a request by the Latvian Prime Minister to assign the status of main host for the World Championship to another country than Belarus. The council has decided to put together an expert group and initiate a review of Minsk/Riga 2021.
"The IIHF is deeply concerned over the recent events unfolding in Minsk," IIHF president René Fasel says. "But as a sports federation the IIHF is not a political entity and cannot move a tournament for political reasons."
The task of the expert group is thus to review all potential risks that exist with Minsk/Riga as tournament hosts, IIHF General Secretary Horst Lichtner explains: "They will be tasked to come up with recommendations on what the best course will be to take for the World Championship."
