Belarusian among candidates for head of International Ice Hockey Federation
Sergei Goncharov, who was recently nominated to the Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), has been included in the official list of candidates for the position of president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, the IIHF press service reported.
Sergei Goncharov, photo FHB
In total, nine candidates will compete for victory in the elections, writes "Belarusian Hockey".
- Sergei Goncharov (Belarus) — former deputy chairman of the Ice Hockey Federation of Belarus, previously nominated for this position in 2021.
- Petr Brziza (Czech Republic) — Senior Vice President of the IIHF and a famous former goalkeeper, considered one of the main favorites in the election race.
- Franz Reindl (Germany) — IIHF Council member.
- Aivaz Omorkanov (Kyrgyzstan) — IIHF Vice President for the Asia and Oceania region.
- Henrik Bach-Nielsen (Denmark) — IIHF Council member.
- Frank Gonzalez (Spain) — IIHF Council member.
- Zakaria Hechuashvili (Georgia).
- Matjaž Rakovec (Slovenia).
- Jaan Mölder (Estonia).
The IIHF presidential elections will take place in October 2026. Current IIHF head Luc Tardif previously announced that he would step down and not run for a new term.
We should add that since February 2022, with the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Belarusian hockey players have been suspended from international competitions, for example, missing five World Championships and participation in the qualifiers for the Olympic hockey tournament.
However, at the end of May, the Belarusian junior and women's national teams were admitted to international competitions in 2027. The question of admitting the adult (i.e. national) teams of Belarus and Russia will be considered in September.