IIHF visit in Berlin
by Martin Merk|06 DEC 2022
L-R Claus Grobner (DEB), Petr Briza (IIHF), Luc Tardif (IIHF), Mahmut Ozdemir (Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Community), Peter Merten (DEB), Andreas Niederberger (DEB), Matti Nurminen (IIHF)
photo: DEB
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The German Ice Hockey Association (DEB), one of the applicants for the 2027 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, recently invited IIHF President Luc Tardif, IIHF Senior Vice-President Petr Briza and IIHF General Secretary Matti Nurminen to Berlin.

To discuss the current application process, the German Ice Hockey Association including President Peter Merten, Vice-President Andreas Niederberger and General Secretary Claus Grobner together with Thomas Willenbacher, Managing Director of Teamsport Deutschland, conducted an informal exchange with the IIHF leadership. The participants also discussed the current situation of ice rinks and national competitions in Germany also in view of the current energy situation.

As part of the two-day visit, Tardif, Briza and Nurminen also visited the German federal parliament Bundestag and met with Mahmut Ozdemir, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Community. The members of the ministry’s sport board confirmed the full political support for the bid within the national strategy for large sporting events and underlined the professional organization, outstanding infrastructure and enthusiastic German fans.

Germany, Kazakhstan and Norway are the three applicants for the 2027 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. The hosting rights will be awarded by the 2023 IIHF Annual Congress in late May.

Tardif also visited DEL Winter Game, which took place in a football stadium in Cologne where the home team Kolner Haie beat Adler Mannheim 4-2 in front of 40,163 spectators. In Cologne he met with representatives from several European top leagues (Hockey Europe).