The Slovak Hockey Federation has denied reports that it is interested in organizing friendly matches with the Russian national team on the eve of the 2024 World Cup. This has been reported Web site organizations.
“We have not had any discussions with the Russian Hockey Federation and we do not plan to hold preliminary matches with the Russian national team. These are imaginary information whose origins we do not know and which shock us. We strongly reject such speculations that unnecessarily further divide a polarized society.
We prepared and agreed on the World Cup preparation program together with the opponent list, starting from September 2023. We have eight friendly matches with attractive opponents. “We will inform fans about the location and time of individual matches in the near future,” the statement said.
January 10 “Match TV” reported About the Slovak side’s plans to organize one or more friendly matches ahead of the 2024 World Cup.
The World Championship will be held in the Czech Republic between 10-26 May 2024. The Slovakia national team will face teams from the USA, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, France, Kazakhstan and Poland.
In the spring of 2022, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) decided to ban Russian players from participating in international tournaments, even with neutral status, and the organization also stripped Russia of the right to host the youth world championship at home in 2023. .
In March 2023, the IIHF extended the suspension for the 2023/24 season. At the same time, the president of the organization, Luc Tardif, announced that the IIHF council will return to the issue of accepting the national teams of Russia and Belarus in March 2024.
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