The NHL and NHLPA confirmed a 2028 World Cup of Hockey with at least eight teams. A bidding process for cities and venues will open later on.

The World Cup of Hockey is scheduled to return in 2028, the NHL and NHLPA announced Wednesday.

The tournament is expected to take place during the season in February and will cause a break in the NHL regular season, much like what happens with this month's 4 Nations Face-Off and the Olympics. 

This will be the fourth World Cup of Hockey. Team USA won in 1996, and Canada won in 2004 and 2016.

This is part of the league and players' association's aspirations for an international best-on-best competition every two years, alternating between the World Cup and the Winter Olympics.

NHL players are expected to be at the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy. It'll be the first time NHLers represent their countries at the Olympics since 2014, when Canada defeated Sweden in the gold medal game. 

"International best-on-best competition is very important to our players – representing their countries on the ice is in their DNA — and hockey fans love it," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press release. "Resuming Olympic participation next season and staging a World Cup of Hockey in February 2028 will provide expanded opportunity for more players to represent more nations in best-on-best competition."

Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh made the announcement alongside NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey in Montreal before the first game of the 4 Nations Face-Off Wednesday night.

The 4 Nations event features only four teams, but at least eight squads will participate in the 2028 World Cup, said Bettman. The exact teams are expected to be announced later this year.

Eight teams would match the number of squads from the last World Cup in 2016, which featured Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czechia, a North American U-23 squad and Team Europe.

Bettman said only traditional teams (countries) will participate in 2028, meaning Team North America and Team Europe won't return. 

Russia hasn't appeared in IIHF tournaments since invading Ukraine in 2022. The ban on Russia and Belarus from IIHF competition was upheld for the 2025-26 season this month. But the World Cup of Hockey is organized by the NHLPA and NHL.

The 2028 World Cup also doesn't have a location yet, but Bettman said they expect to open a bidding process for host cities and venues in the coming months. He also said that European cities have a chance to host. The last World Cup was held in Toronto, while the 2004 and 1996 tournaments occurred in multiple cities in North America and Europe.

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