Norway kicked out of the junior hockey worlds, Russia gets its spot

Imagine qualifying for a world championship, then getting a letter saying you are out. That is what Norway's hockey federation says just happened, and the team that replaces it is Russia.

What happened?

The Norwegian federation received a letter from the IIHF (the international ice hockey federation). It says Norway's team is excluded from the under-20 World Junior Championship. Norway is moved to a lower division instead.

The vacated place goes to Russia. According to the updated schedule, the Russian team takes Norway's slot in Group A, as team number 10, at the 2027 tournament.

Why is everyone talking about it?

Because Russia has been shut out of IIHF events for almost five years. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the IIHF suspended the Russian and Belarusian national teams from all its tournaments on 28 February 2022. That included the World Juniors.

Now a sports court has ordered that Russia be brought back into international hockey immediately. It turns out almost nothing was ready for that. There was no spare slot, no prepared schedule and no obvious way to fit one more team into the field.

The cost of that rush landed on Norway, which lost its place in the top level of the junior tournament.

What's next?

The story may not end with Norway. It is not ruled out that organisers will also have to give Russia the place of Ukraine. Ukraine's juniors reached the tournament for the first time in 20 years.

For now, Norway has lost its spot in the top division, and the schedule has already been redrawn with Russia in it. Whether the other places in the tournament will change is still unclear.