German government wants to keep ice hockey worlds as Russia’s return leads to boycott

BERLIN (AP) – Germany's administration wants to keep the men's ice hockey world championships in the country "as planned" after the reinstatement of Russia by a sports court last week caused almost half of the 16 teams to threaten a boycott.

What happened

In practice, the German hockey federation has suggested it could offer up hosting rights for the event in Duesseldorf and Mannheim in May rather than agreement with uncertainty over extra security and higher costs.

Seven European nations' hockey federations including those in Finland and Sweden – though not Germany – have remarked they will compete in the championships but will boycott games against Russia.

"It needs to be our aim to hold the tournaments as planned, " administration spokesperson Stefan Kornelius stated Friday. "That would, nevertheless, not in fact be feasible given the boycotts if Russia is to participate. Therefore we now want to explore options through discussions to enable us to still have the tournament take place."

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around german government wants to keep ice hockey worlds as Russias return leads point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.