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If necessary, Finland would consider taking over part of the 2021 hockey championship, Harri Nummela, President of the Finnish Hockey Association, told STT.
It has already been reported that on Monday after the extraordinary meeting of the government, the Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) announced his intention to start negotiations with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on hosting the 2021 World Hockey Championship in another country.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs (JV) said that the primary task is to start negotiations with the IIHF, which will be done by the Ministry of Education and Science. He added that if the current situation persists, Latvia will support the transfer of the championship from Belarus to another country.
By contrast, the IIHF has no plans to relocate the 2021 World Cup to another venue and does not want to make any political statements.
Asked whether Finland would consider taking over part of the 2021 World Cup, Nummela answered in the affirmative.
“Of course, we would assess the situation or possibly hold a world championship if the IIHF concludes that a new championship venue needs to be found,” Finnish public media Yle.fi quotes Nummela as saying.
In the last decade, Finland has already hosted two world championships, and it will host its championships in 2022 as well. Nummela notes that even part of hosting a tournament requires a lot of resources.
“There are less than two years left until our championship, but the organizers of the competition have been working since last year,” says Nummela.
Yle also reports that if Latvia refuses to host the championship, it would have to pay a fine of one million Swiss francs or approximately 930,000 euros.
The IIHF noted this week that, in addition to the political situation in Belarus, the coronavirus pandemic is another factor that could affect both countries’ ability to host the World Cup.
According to the official results of the presidential election in Belarus on August 9, the current head of state Alexander Lukashenko won 80.1% of the vote, while opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovska won 10.1%, but the opposition believes the election results are fake and Tikhanovska has won the election.
Protests against electoral fraud and President Lukashenko, who have often escalated into protests by security forces, have continued in the capital, Minsk, since 9 August. During the protests, several thousand people were detained and several hundred were injured. Workers in many companies have gone on strike.
The 2021 World Championships, which will take place from May 21 to June 6, are organized by Minsk together with Riga, beating the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Tampere in a fierce battle in May 2017. Group tournaments and two quarterfinals will take place in Riga and Minsk, while the semifinals and the finals will be held in the capital of Belarus.
In 2022, the tournament should be hosted in Finland (Helsinki and Tampere), in 2023 – in Russia (St. Petersburg), in 2024 in the Czech Republic (Prague and Ostrava), and in 2025 – in Sweden and Denmark.
The Minsk World Cup was also hosted in 2014, and at that time the European Parliament called on the IIHF to prevent Belarus from hosting the championship, citing the authorities’ repression against the opposition.
Riga has hosted the World Championships for the only time so far in 2006.
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