Norway withdraws bid
by Martin Merk|06 JAN 2023
Norwegian players after a victory at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.
photo: Andre Ringuette / IIHF
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The Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation has formally withdrawn its bid to host the 2027 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

The reason for the withdrawal is the lack of funding from the Norwegian government. The Ministry of Culture and Equality, which is responsible for sports in Norway, rejected the application for funding for the bid that foresaw Baerum in the Oslo region as well as Trondheim as venues.

“We are of course disappointed by the refusal without a dialogue beforehand,” said NIHF President Tage Pettersen. “An Ice Hockey World Championship will be the biggest winter sports event since the 1994 Olympics, and will mean a lot for Norwegian sport. In our application, the NIHF has planned for the reuse of facilities and investment in sustainability.”

Norway has previously hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 1999.

The Norwegian Ice Hockey Federation will continue working with its partners on the funding of an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in the future but this will not happen in time for the vote in May 2023. The process will therefore be started for a new bid for the 2028 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

Germany and Kazakhstan remain in the race to get the hosting rights for the 2027 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. The 2023 IIHF Annual Congress will vote on the allocation in May.