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Kalervo Kummola, vice-president of the International Hockey Federation, said in his Twitter account that the 2021 World Cup should not take place in Minsk.
Minsk and Riga have to host the 2021 World Cup next year, but the Latvian government does not want to hold a tournament with Belarus because its self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is cracking down on peaceful protesters. There are also growing calls to deprive Belarus of group tournaments and play-offs from European officials.
The situation is complicated by the fact that organizing the entire tournament in Latvia would require an additional five million euros, while the Latvian government is ready to allocate only one.
Earlier, The Hockey News journalist Ryan Kennedy revealed that the IIHF could move matches from Belarus to Russia, which has all the necessary infrastructure. According to the journalist, IIHF President Rene Fezel will soon discuss the issue with the President of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak. Kennedy also writes that Latvia will keep its games.
If the IIHF president has always been quite evasive on this issue, pointing out that the goal of the organization is to do everything possible to ensure that the World Cup matches take place in the scheduled places in 2021, then the position of the IIHF vice president is stronger.
“My position on human rights in Belarus is still not clear to everyone, although I have said it ten times. I believe that the 2021 World Cup games should be moved from Minsk. I believe that will be the case, ”Kummola wrote on his Twitter account, thus becoming the first representative of the IIHF to publicly oppose the organization of the World Cup in Belarus.
My position on the Belarusian human rights issues still does not seem to be clear to everyone, even if I have it ten times said. I do not think that the Games should be taken to Minsk, and I believe that will be the case.
– Kalervo Kummola (@KummolaKalervo) November 21, 2020
On November 18, the IIHF was to announce the fate of the tournament. However, this was not expected and the official position of the federation has not changed – taking into account a number of variables, all parties involved are invited to follow the situation closely. The decision has been postponed, and the IIHF is developing a number of scenarios in parallel.
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