Who will succeed the Czech Republic? The Men's World Ice Hockey Championships start on Friday at the Avicii Arena in StockholmThe tournament, which will be held between the Swedish capital and the Danish city of Herning, will run until May 25. Sixteen nations are vying for the gold medal. The 2024 edition made history for the sport by setting a new attendance record: 797.727 people attended the tournament in the Czech Republic, with an average of 12.464 spectators per match. Naturally, the International Federation (IIHF) has high expectations.
The largest fan zone in history
Tickets sold like hotcakes: on the first day, more than 100.000 seats were sold, just for the matches scheduled in Stockholm. The Swedish market is naturally buoyant, fueled by the national team's results – nine podium finishes over the last twenty years, including four titles. The organizing committees have thought big to make this tournament a true popular celebration. The Stockholm fan zone, right next to the Avicii Arena, which will host the matches, covers 12.000 square meters: broadcasts of the matches on giant screens, concerts, hockey-related activities, the presence of former professional players… "This reflects our ambition to make the World Championships unforgettable.", explains the site manager, Johan Wirell, which expects to receive 300.000 visitors over the entire tournament.
The Herning fan zone, located next to the Jyske Bank Boxen, will cover 18.000 square meters. This is unprecedented for a World Championship. “Our official fan zone will be the ultimate gathering place for fans from all nations. It will be the largest official fan zone ever created, with plenty of activities for all ages.”, announces Ulrik Larsen, CEO of the Herning organizing committee. For comparison, the largest fan zone for the 2024 edition, in Prague, was 8.400 square meters. A fan walk will also be organized, from the city center to the stadium, modeled on the processions frequently seen in football, like those at Euro 2024.
Successful World Championships to push 3x3 towards the Games?
All the lights seem to be green before the start of the tournament, and so much the better, because the stakes are high. “The income from these World Championships allows us to maintain all development activities, the women's tournaments, U18, U20, and all lower divisions, explained Luc Tardif, IIHF president, on NewsTalk ZB. This competition will help us finance everything else." The IIHF has 84 member associations, but is still far from having conquered Central and Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The success of the World Championships should therefore serve the development of the sport internationally, in every corner of the globe. "My most important job is to try to bring ice hockey everywhere on the planet, even where people don't think it can be played.", underlines Tardif, who was recently in New Zealand.
In an encouraging sign, the organizers of the 2025 World Championships have received applications to volunteer at the tournament from destinations as far away as Brazil, Ghana, and South Korea. "There has been a lot of momentum in Asia since the cycle of the two Winter Olympic Games, notes Luc Tardif in reference to Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022. China has built more than 300 ice rinks. Thailand is growing, the Philippines too… Hockey can be everywhere!” Even more so with 3x3 hockey, in which the IIHF president has high hopes: “We really want to push this format. We saw the success of rugby sevens and 3x3 basketball at the Paris Games. It’s better suited to the new generation, and also to developing countries. Take rugby, for example: it’s complicated to form a competitive team of 30 players, but with Sevens, we see Kenya, Uruguay, and so on. We need to build competitions and be there, at the Games, with 3x3. I don’t know if it will be in 2030, but we should be there by 2034.” This will require a certain number of resources, largely linked to the World Championships.
