Current season, competition or edition: 2023 Bandy World Championship | |
Sport | Bandy |
---|---|
First season | 1957 |
No. of teams | 11 (2023) |
Countries | Worldwide |
Most recent champion(s) | Sweden (13th title) |
Most titles | Soviet Union (14 titles) |
Official website | worldbandy.com |
The Bandy World Championship is a competition for the men's teams of bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Women's Bandy World Championship. A Youth Bandy World Championship also exists separately from the senior competition and has competitions in both the male and female categories.
The 2020 Bandy World Championship for Division A was scheduled to be played in Irkutsk, Russia in 2020 but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Bandy World Championship for Division A and B was initially scheduled to be played in Syktyvkar, Russia, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was rescheduled for Division B to 8–13 March 2022 and for Division A to 27 March–3 April 2022. However, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden withdrew from the tournament, [1] which was then postponed indefinitely. [2]
Although bandy has been played since the 19th century, the first men's world championships were only played as recently as 1957, and the first women's championships not until 2004.
Before this, friendlies had been played regularly between the Nordic countries. A film from British Pathé created in 1935 called "Ice Hockey At Helsingfors On Sleeve As Ice Hockey At Halsingfors News In A Nutshell (1935)" shows an international bandy match between women bandy players from Finland and women bandy players from Sweden being played outdoors at Helsingfors Ice Stadium (Helsinki) in Finland where the narrator corrects the misconception that it is an international women's ice hockey game. Helsingfors is the Swedish name for Helsinki and comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (etymological origin of the Finnish name Helsinki) and the rapids (in Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original town.
A bandy tournament for men was held as a demonstration sport at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, but this had no world championship status. A four-nation tournament in 1954 for men was played in Moscow, this was the first time the Soviet Union met teams from other countries and the first time the new, jointly agreed rules were used, however this was not called a world championship. The international federation was founded in 1955 by the four countries which had men's national bandy teams who had played in Moscow.
The first ever men's Bandy World Championship was organised in 1957 in association with the 50th anniversary of the Ball Association of Finland, which at the time was the governing body of bandy in Finland. It was played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. [3]
From 1961 to 2003, the men's championships were played every two years, but since then has been played annually. (During the period 1972–1990, the Rossiya Tournament was held for national teams in the years when there was no world championship. This was always played in the Soviet Union and arranged by newspaper Sovetskaya Rossiya . It was affectionately called "the small world championship".)
For a long time, only four countries competed at the world championships: the Soviet Union, Sweden, Finland and Norway, with the Soviet Union the dominating country. More countries have joined the tournaments in recent decades, starting with the United States in 1985. The interest in the sport has spread to other parts of Europe, North America and Asia, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 also opened the way for separate national teams from the former Soviet republics. Somalia became the first team from Africa to compete, in the 2014 tournament in Irkutsk. [4] The record number of participants is 20, set in 2019.
Denmark, Switzerland, Armenia and Poland are countries that a few years ago expressed interest in participating in future tournaments. [5] Denmark and Poland have left FIB, while Switzerland debuted in the 2019 edition, as did Great Britain. [6] Armenia wished to participate in the 2011, [7] but was not allowed to, as the tournament format at the time only allowed twelve teams and several more wanted to come. Of the countries which still have not taken part, India was also denied in 2011. [8] Most probably also Lithuania. [9] [10] The reason for the 2011 tournament having only eleven teams, was a late cancellation from Australia, [11] another country no longer an FIB member.
With more nations competing, Group B was created in 1991. In 2012 there was a Group C for the first time as 14 countries participated. Group C was abolished in 2013, when instead two sub-groups of Group B were created. In 2014 there were two sub-groups also in Group A, increasing the number of teams in that division from six to eight. The number of groups is not fixed, it is changed from year to year and there are discussions about reinstating a Group C. [12] Japan and Kyrgyzstan attended their first World Championships in 2012, Ukraine joined in 2013, Germany and Somalia made their debuts in 2014, China in 2015, and the Czech Republic in 2016. Russia, Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Norway, USA and Belarus usually play in group A. Until 2011, the best team in group B Went into a playoff match with the team which came bottom of the A-group, replacing them if they won. In 2004 the B-pool was played in a location separate from group A for the first time, at the City Park Ice Rink in Budapest. In 2013 this happened again as Vetlanda hosted the B-pool, whereas Vänersborg was the main venue of the A-pool with three matches played at other locations, Trollhättan, Gothenburg and Oslo. In 2015 and 2016 the tournaments were separated in time while in the same cities. The Division B matches are shorter in time, except for the end matches.
Team | 57 | 61 | 63 | 65 | 67 | 69 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 77 | 79 | 81 | 83 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 91 | 93 | 95 | 97 | 99 | 01 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belarus | part of Soviet Union | – | – | – | – | 7th | ||||||||||||||||
Canada | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6th | 6th | 7th | 7th | – | – |
Finland | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd |
Hungary | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8th | 7th | 8th | 8th | – | – |
Kazakhstan | part of Soviet Union | – | 4th | 4th | 5th | 4th | ||||||||||||||||
Netherlands | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7th | 8th | – | 9th | – | – |
Norway | – | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 4th | – | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 5th | 5th | 4th | 5th |
Russia | part of Soviet Union | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | ||||||||||||||||
Soviet Union | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 1st | defunct | ||||
Sweden | 3rd | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 2nd |
United States | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th |
Total teams | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
Team | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Belarus | 6th | 7th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 6th | – | 7th | 7th | 6th | 7th | 6th | 6th | 8th | – | – | – | – | – | 15 |
Canada | – | 9th | 8th | 8th | – | 8th | 8th | 7th | 8th | 8th | 8th | 8th | – | – | 9th | – | 14th | – | – | – | 16 |
China | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | 16th | 17th | 12th | 18th | – | – | – | 5 |
Czech Republic | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | 16th | – | 15th | 16th | – | 10th | 5 |
Germany | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | 12th | 9th | 7th | 7th | 7th | x | – | 7th | 7 |
Estonia | 8th | 10th | 10th | 12th | 12th | 10th | 9th | – | – | 12th | 11th | 10th | 9th | DSQ | 14th | 11th | 9th | x | – | – | 15 |
Finland | 4th | 1st | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | x | – | 2nd | 40 |
Great Britain | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10th | – | – | – | 1 |
Hungary | – | 8th | 11th | 9th | 10th | 13th | 13th | 10th | 10th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 10th | 10th | 10th | 8th | 11th | 9th | – | 6th | 18 |
Japan | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 13th | 13th | 12th | 13th | 13th | 12th | 10th | 12th | 15th | – | – | 9 |
Kazakhstan | 3rd | 4th | 3rd | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 4th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 4th | 4th | x | – | 4th | 22 |
Kyrgyzstan | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14th | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 |
Latvia | – | – | – | – | 8th | 9th | 10th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 9th | 9th | 7th | 8th | – | – | 13th | 14th | – | – | 12 |
Mongolia | – | – | – | 11th | 11th | 12th | 12th | 11th | – | – | – | 14th | 14th | 12th | 11th | 13th | – | 12th | – | – | 11 |
Netherlands | 9th | 11th | 9th | 10th | 9th | 11th | 11th | 9th | 11th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 11th | 14th | 15th | 9th | 8th | 13th | – | 8th | 22 |
Norway | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 5th | 4th | 6th | 5th | x | – | 3rd | 38 |
Russia | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | x | – | – | 22 |
Slovakia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 15th | 16th | 11th | – | 9th | 4 |
Somalia | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 17th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 16th | 20th | 18th | – | – | 7 |
Sweden | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | x | – | 1st | 40 |
Switzerland | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 19th | 17th | – | 11th | 3 |
Ukraine | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 14th | 16th | – | 11th | 13th | 14th | 17th | 10th | – | – | 7 |
United States | 7th | 6th | 7th | 7th | 7th | 7th | 7th | 6th | 6th | 6th | 7th | 6th | 8th | 7th | 6th | 5th | 6th | x | – | 5th | 27 |
Total teams | 9 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 20 | 10 (18*) | 0 | 11 |
*18 teams were enrolled in 2020, but only 10 (the B division) could participate (teams marked with "x" could not participate).
Year | Debuting teams | Successor teams | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Teams | No. | Cum. | ||
1957 | Finland , Soviet Union , Sweden | 3 | 3 | |
1961 | Norway | 1 | 4 | |
1963 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1965 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1967 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1969 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1971 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1973 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1975 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1977 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1979 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1981 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1983 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1985 | - | 0 | 4 | |
1987 | United States | 1 | 5 | |
1989 | - | 0 | 5 | |
1991 | Canada , Hungary , Netherlands | 3 | 8 | |
1993 | Russia | 0 | 8 | Soviet Union |
1995 | Kazakhstan | 1 | 9 | |
1997 | - | 0 | 9 | |
1999 | - | 0 | 9 | |
2001 | Belarus | 1 | 10 | |
2003 | Estonia | 1 | 11 | |
2004 | - | 0 | 11 | |
2005 | - | 0 | 11 | |
2006 | Mongolia | 1 | 12 | |
2007 | Latvia | 1 | 13 | |
2008 | - | 0 | 13 | |
2009 | - | 0 | 13 | |
2010 | - | 0 | 13 | |
2011 | - | 0 | 13 | |
2012 | Japan , Kyrgyzstan | 2 | 15 | |
2013 | Ukraine | 1 | 16 | |
2014 | Somalia | 1 | 17 | |
2015 | China , Germany | 2 | 19 | |
2016 | Czech Republic | 1 | 20 | |
2017 | - | 0 | 20 | |
2018 | Slovakia | 1 | 21 | |
2019 | Great Britain , Switzerland | 2 | 23 | |
2020-2022 | - | 0 | 23 | |
2023 | - | 0 | 23 | |
2025 | - | 0 | 23 |
Originally, the competition was played as an all-meet-all round-robin tournament. Starting in 1983, semifinals and a final was added to follow the round-robin stage.
When the number of participating nations increased, the championship was split up in two groups from 2003 onwards, A and B, with the better teams in Group A. The winner of Group B for some years played a game against the least successful team of Group A to determine qualification for Group A for next year, but in 2016, 2017, and 2018 winning Group B has been directly qualifying for group A for the following year while the last placed team of Group A is automatically relegated to Group B.
The interest is biggest in Sweden, Finland and Russia. [13] For a few times now it has been shown on Eurosport 2.
The games are also viewable via online streaming.
* For 1959–1981 championships, there are listed venues (host cities) of the decisive matches of round-robin tournaments (i.e. matches between champions and runners-up for each tournament), not final matches.
** 18 teams were enrolled in 2020, but only 10 (the B division) could participate.
Countries in italics no longer compete at the World Championships.
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Soviet Union | 14 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
2 | Sweden | 13 | 19 | 8 | 40 |
3 | Russia | 12 | 9 | 1 | 22 |
4 | Finland | 1 | 9 | 22 | 32 |
5 | Norway | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
6 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Totals (6 entries) | 40 | 40 | 40 | 120 |
The most consecutive gold medals were won by the Soviet Union with 11. Russia has won four consecutive gold medals and Sweden has won three consecutive gold medals.
Until 1981, the championship was always decided by round-robin games, so only since 1983 there have been designated venues for the championship final game.
No. | Times | Country | Arena | City | Years | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Finland | Oulunkylä Ice Rink | Helsinki | 1983, 1991 | |
1 | 2 | Russia | Trud Stadium | Arkhangelsk | 1999, 2003 | |
1 | 2 | Sweden | Rocklunda IP | Västerås | 1997, 2004 | |
1 | 2 | Russia | Olympic Stadium | Moscow | 1989, 2008 | Indoor arena |
1 | 2 | Russia | Trudovye Rezervy Stadium | Kazan | 2005, 2011 | |
1 | 2 | Russia | Arena Yerofey | Khabarovsk | 2015, 2018 | Indoor arena |
1 | 2 | Sweden | Arena Vänersborg | Vänersborg | 2013, 2019 | Indoor arena |
8 | 1 | Norway | Valle Hovin | Oslo | 1985 | |
8 | 1 | Sweden | Söderstadion | Stockholm | 1987 | |
8 | 1 | Norway | Hamar Olympic Hall | Hamar | 1993 | Indoor arena |
8 | 1 | United States | John Rose Minnesota Oval | Roseville | 1995 | |
8 | 1 | Finland | Raksila Ice Rink | Oulu | 2001 | |
8 | 1 | Sweden | Zinkensdamms IP | Stockholm | 2006 | |
8 | 1 | Russia | Khimik Stadium | Kemerovo | 2007 | |
8 | 1 | Sweden | ABB Arena South | Västerås | 2009 | Indoor arena |
8 | 1 | Russia | Ice Palace Krylatskoye | Moscow | 2010 | Indoor arena |
8 | 1 | Kazakhstan | Medeu | Almaty | 2012 | |
8 | 1 | Russia | Trud Stadium | Irkutsk | 2014 | |
8 | 1 | Russia | Trud Stadium | Ulyanovsk | 2016 | |
8 | 1 | Sweden | Göransson Arena | Sandviken | 2017 | Indoor arena |
8 | 1 | Sweden | Eriksson Arena | Växjö | 2023 | Indoor arena |
Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.
The Federation of International Bandy is the international governing body for the sport of bandy, including the variant called rink bandy. The federation is headquartered in Simrishamn Municipality, Sweden.
The Belarusian national bandy team has been competing in the annual Bandy World Championship since 2001, but not in 2010, 2018 and 2019. The plan was to participate also in 2018, but Federation of International Bandy seemingly was not interested in letting Belarus play. In 2004, Belarus defeated Canada to win the Group B championship. Belarus played in Group A in 2006, 2007 and again in 2008 after winning 9-1 against USA team, the best team of Group B.
Uralsky Trubnik is a bandy club from Pervouralsk that plays in the Russian Bandy Super League. After the indoor stadium Volga-Sport-Arena in Ulyanovsk was finished, Uralsky Trubnik was for a few years the only club in the highest division without artificial ice. That is until Murman got promoted for the 2018–19 season. However, a decision to build an indoor bandy stadium has been taken. In 2017 the team won the pre-season tournament ExTeCupen. In 2019 the club for the first time in its history took a medal in the domestic league with a third place.
Sami Laakkonen is a Finnish former bandy player who played as a forward. Laakkonen was brought up by WP 35 but moved abroad to enhance his career. He played for the Finnish national bandy team, scoring the decisive goal in the final of the 2004 World Championship. At the 2016 World Championship, he made his last appearance for the national team. After the 2018–19 season, he also retired at club level.
SKA-Neftyanik is a professional bandy club from Khabarovsk, Russia, established in 1947. It plays in the Russian Bandy Super League, the top division of Russian bandy. The club colours are yellow, red and black.
KhK Kuzbass is a professional bandy club from Kemerovo, Russia, established in 1948. It plays in the Russian Bandy Super League, the top division of Russian bandy. The home games are played at Khimik Stadium in Kemerovo. While during the 2016-17 season, the indoor arena was their base, 2017-18 it will be Khimik again. The club colours are dark orange, white and black and the club logo also includes the arms of Kemerovo.
1913 European Bandy Championships was, according to some sources, a European Championship tournament for national teams in bandy held in February 1913 in Saint-Moritz or in Davos, Switzerland. However, there are no known contemporary sources for this and the oldest known source for the competition being held is from a Swedish book on bandy from the 1970s, itself not citing any sources. It is likely that the information could be a mixup with the actual 1913 LIHG Championship in Saint Moritz or the actual 1913 Ice Hockey European Championship in Munich, which were ice hockey tournaments between ice hockey teams from different European countries.
The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy among bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy.
Boris Ivanovich Skrynnik is a Russian bandy executive and former bandy player. He has been the president of the Federation of International Bandy. He is also president of the Russian Bandy Federation.
2015 Bandy World Championship 2015 was the XXXVth Bandy World Championship. At the FIB congress held during the XXXIVth World Championship in 2014, it was announced that Khabarovsk in Russia had been elected as host city. It was also decided the Group A tournament would be played around the end of March/beginning of April, which means it would take place when the national bandy leagues in the major bandy playing countries, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden, would be finished for the season. Group B was played between February 1 and 6 and hit a new record attendance, already before the match for the bronze and the final.
The 2013–2014 season of the Russian Bandy Super League was played from November 2013 until March 2014, when the Russian champions were named after a play-off.
KhK Vympel is a Russian bandy club based in Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, founded in 1934. The club colours are white, red and blue. In 1963 it won the bronze in the Soviet national championship. Their stadium, called Stadium Vympel, was expecting artificial ice, However, the project was abandoned. Although an indoor ice hockey-sized arena entered the plans instead, the official reason given was financial problems.
Yenisey Stadium is a demolished outdoor sports venue in Krasnoyarsk, which in December 2018 was reopened as an indoor arena. It is the home of Yenisey. At the 2019 Winter Universiade the new indoor stadium hosted bandy matches.
Sergey Sergeyevich Lomanov is a Russian bandy player (forward), currently playing for Yenisey. He has been team captain of Russia, but during the 2018–19 season declined to continue with the national team.
Akzhayik Sports Club is a bandy team in Kazakhstan, which is the only professional team in the country and plays in the second highest division of Russia, the Russian Bandy Supreme League.
The Bandy World Championship G-17, also designated Bandy World Championship F-17, is a Youth Bandy World Championship for girls' teams up to the age of 17 years. This is the only Youth Bandy World Championship age group for female players. Usually, only the core bandy playing nations are taking part, but the United States has also appeared on more than one occasion.
The 2016–17 Russian Bandy Super League is the 25th season of the present highest Russian men's bandy top division, Russian Bandy Super League. The regular season began on 7 November 2016, and the final was played on 26 March 2016, when SKA-Neftyanik became Russian champion for the first time.
Sergey Anatolyevich Myaus is a Russian bandy manager and executive and former bandy player. He is a vice president of the Russian Bandy Federation, member of the FIB technical committee and a former head coach of the national bandy team.
Switzerland women's national bandy team represents Switzerland in international bandy tournaments. It is controlled by the Federation of Swiss Bandy and made its debut at the 2018 Women's Bandy World Championship.
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