International Ice Hockey Federation

Together for 2017

Together for 2017

Germany, France welcome hockey world

Published 25.04.2017 15:10 GMT+2 | Author Organizing Committee / Martin Merk
The 2013 IIHF Annual Congress allocated the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship to a joint bid from Germany and France.

The 2013 IIHF Annual Congress voted in favour of a joint bid to allocate the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship to Germany and France.

The successful bid of both countries had been presented under the slogan "Together for 2017" in honour of the 50th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty for reconciliation between France and Germany, also known as the Treaty of Friendship.

The event will take place in the cities of Cologne and Paris from 5th to 21st May 2017, featuring 64 games of world-class ice hockey performed by the world's top-16 hockey nations. The tournament format will consist of a preliminary round played in two round-robin groups of eight teams, out of which the four best teams qualify for the quarter-finals, while the overall bottom ranked two teams will be relegated to the following year's Division I tournament. As of the quarter-finals, the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship will be played in a play-off system.

Cologne is a well-known venue to international hockey fans. The Lanxess Arena played host to the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2001 and 2010. Built in 1998, the arena is the largest venue for indoor sports by capacity in Europe offering 18,500 seats for hockey. The arena is near the city centre and is linked to the old town and the station by train and subway. The German high-speed train ICE has a station about five walking minutes away from the arena. As the main venue, Cologne will host one preliminary-round group, two quarter-final games, the semi-finals and medal games.

In France, games will be played in the most famous indoor sports venue of the country, the Palais Omnisports Bercy in downtown Paris with a Metro station next door. The arena was opened for hockey eight years ago when the French Ice Hockey Federation started to host the French Cup Final at the venue. In each of the recent years this event has been sold out with 13,362 spectators and also international exhibition games have been hosted in the metropolis of 2.3 million inhabitants. Opened in 1984, the arena will be renovated and expanded by 2015 so that it can offer seating for 15,000 fans for hockey games. Paris will host one preliminary-round group and two quarter-final games. The two winners will travel to Cologne for the semi-finals.

Both Cologne and Paris offer frequent flight connections to a large number of international destinations and are perfectly linked between each other through a high-speed railway network. Five trains a day link the cities in a journey of little more than three hours. The flight time between the cities is 75 minutes.

The 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Organizing Committee expects 600,000 fans in the arenas and aims for fan-friendly ticket prices. Tickets sales are intended to be starting by the end of 2015 and tickets shall be available on www.iihfworlds2017.com as well as on other sales channels.

 

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