No surprise: the only candidate after the withdrawal of Kazakhstan, France was designated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to organize the men's world championship in 2028. The official announcement took place at the end of last week in Prague, on the sidelines of the 2024 edition of the global tournament. The 2028 World Cup will be held in two cities: Paris, where the matches will be played at the Accor Arena (14.500 seats), and Lyon, where they are scheduled at the LDLC Arena (16.000 seats). The first round, with two groups of eight teams, will take place equally between the two cities, which will then share the matches in the final phase. The 2028 world championship will be the third in history organized in France, after 1951 and 2017 (with Germany). It will be held from May 12 to 28, 2028, a little less than two years before the 2030 Winter Games, for which the French Alps were to be named hosts at the next IOC session on July 24 in Paris.
