Russia could be making a return to best-on-best hockey in the near future.
The IIHF announced Friday that it has reversed its previous decision to ban Russian national and club teams from all 2026-27 events and will now instead determine the nation's eligibility for future IIHF events on an event-by-event basis.
Russia has been banned from competition by the IIHF, hockey's international body, since 2022 in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine.
In January, the IIHF announced that after further analyzing the situation regarding Russia's reintegration, the nation would remain banned from competition for the 2026-27 season due to safety and security concerns.
However, the decision was appealed by the Russian Ice Hockey Federation to the IIHF disciplinary board, and the board subsequently annulled January's decision.
"The Disciplinary Board determined that the previous decision could not be maintained in its current form, and as such has sent the matter back to the IIHF Council to re-analyze based on safety, security, operational, and sporting plans," the IIHF said in its release.
The conversation restarted in January after the International Olympic Committee recommended governing bodies let the countries’ teams and athletes compete in international youth events with their full identity of national flag and anthem.
Then, earlier in May, the IOC urged sports governing bodies to allow Belarusian athletes to compete as non-neutrals.
On the hockey side, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in February that the league would "follow what the international community" is doing as it concerns Russia's participation in the 2028 World Cup, an event which will be run by the league.
