During a video conference call this week, the IIHF council has established a set of key proposals that will impact of the upcoming 2020-2021 international ice hockey season.
These proposals will be brought up for vote by the IIHF Member National Associations (MNAs) at the 2020 IIHF Extra-Ordinary Congress, which is intended to take place in a virtual format with the target date of Wednesday 24th June.
World Championship
The conference discussing moving back next year’s World Championship two weeks to start on 21st May. This will happen, subject to approval at Congress.
Women’s Olympic Qualification
As COVID-19 has already pushed the final qualification stage of the men’s ice hockey event for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, the IIHF Council will also submit a set of recommendations to Congress that will affect the Women’s Olympic Qualification tournaments, set to begin in 2021.
A new proposal for a three-stage Women’s Olympic Qualification will be voted on in Congress. The full schedule for the Women’s Olympic Qualification will be released pending Congress approval.
This includes a proposal to move the Women’s Final Olympic Qualification to August 2021, the same time as the Men’s Olympic Qualification tournament.
2021 IIHF Continental Cup
A new format proposal for the 2021 IIHF Continental Cup will be voted on by the Extra-Ordinary Congress.
The proposal is to condense the tournament by eliminating the opening round stage and running new three-stage format, beginning with a qualification round from 16th to 18th October 2020.
This will be followed by a group stage with 16 teams divided into four groups, with the winners facing off in the Final Round on 8th to 10th January 2021.