Slovakia will host the 2029 IIHF World Championship. Or at least, it will unless something extraordinary happens, according to Slovak journalist Martin Toth-Vaňo, who notes in a tweet that all other potential candidates have withdrawn their applications.
Previously, there were also applicants from Hungary and Great Britain, but Dominik Dubovči of Hokej.cz has reported that they are both now off of the table for 2029, although both countries would still like to host at some point in the future.
An obstacle for both Hungary and Great Britain is that neither country plays in the top division frequently enough for one to be confident that they would qualify for the 2029 World Championship on their own merits. A host country automatically qualifies but the IIHF tries to avoid that situation – the last time it became an issue was 2010, when host Germany played (and finished fourth) despite its 15th-place finish in 2009, which should have relegated the Germans.
Back in September, it was reported that the heads of the Hungarian and Czech national associations – Zsuzsana Kolbenheyer and Alois Hadamczik – had met to discuss a joint bid involving Budapest and Brno. Although the talks appeared serious at the time, they did not result in an official agreement.
“It’s true that they talked, but Hungary never officially invited us to jointly consider the candidacy,” Jan Černý, general secretary of the Czech Ice Hockey Association, said to Czech news agency ČTK. “It was just a friendly meeting to explore the options that Hungary had at the time.”
Presumably, the 2029 tournament would be held at the same venues that hosted in 2011 and 2019 – Ondrej Nepala Arena in Bratislava and Steel Arena in Košice.
The IIHF is not planning to officially announce the host of the 2029 Worlds until this year’s annual congress during the World Championship in Stockholm. The hosts for the next four World Championships have already been awarded:
2025 – Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark
2026 – Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland
2027 – Düsseldorf and Mannheim, Germany
2028 – Paris and Lyon, France