On Friday, the joint bid by Latvia and Finland was approved to host the 2030 Men’s Elite World Ice Hockey Championship. The decision in favour of the sole candidates was made at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Congress.
The championship games will be hosted by Helsinki and Riga from May 17 to June 2, 2030. Each city will host one group of teams and two quarterfinal games, while the semifinal and final matches will take place in Helsinki.
The evaluation of the joint bid took place in several stages, with the IIHF Council analysing the organisational plans and infrastructure. In the vote, the Finnish and Latvian bid received 98.23% support.
Rīga previously hosted the World Championship at the elite national team level in 2006 and 2021, but together with the Finnish city of Tampere, the tournament was hosted in 2023, when the Latvian national team won bronze medals, reaching the podium for the first time in a world championship.
The 2027 World Championship will take place in the German cities of Düsseldorf and Mannheim; in 2028, the top national teams will play in the French cities of Paris and Lyon, while the 2029 championship has been entrusted to the Slovakian cities of Bratislava and Košice.
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