The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has challenged the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that allowed Russia to return to international competitions. According to TSN journalist Gordie Miller, the federation claims that two of the three arbitrators on the panel had undisclosed business ties to Russia.
Who the arbitrators are
The panel that reviewed the dispute between the IIHF and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation was chaired by Italy’s Giulio Palermo. The panel also included Egypt’s Ismail Selim and Britain’s Mark Hovell. On 30 October 2026, CAS ruled that the IIHF must allow Russian teams to participate in upcoming international tournaments.
According to reports cited by TSN and other media outlets, Palermo took part in an arbitration conference in Moscow on 22 September 2026, less than three weeks before he was appointed chair of the panel on 9 October. Ismail Selim participated in an event related to Russian arbitration in May 2025.
These appearances in themselves do not prove that a conflict of interest existed. However, the IIHF is relying precisely on the failure to disclose such circumstances as grounds for its challenge, Miller reports.
What CAS ruled
In its statement of 5 November, CAS said that the panel had examined whether the IIHF’s decisions in July 2026 not to allow the Russian teams to participate complied with the federation’s rules. The court said that the IIHF had not provided sufficient evidence to justify the exclusion.
“CAS is an independent sports arbitration institution, and decisions are made on the basis of the legal merits of the appeal and solely on the arguments and evidence submitted by the parties,” the court said.CAS also clarified that the organizational consequences of the ruling and the possible introduction of a neutrality regime had not been supported by sufficient evidence and had not been requested by the IIHF in the proceedings.
Russia set to return to several tournaments
The ruling affects the World Junior Championship in Canada from 26 December 2026 to 5 January 2027, the women’s Under-18 World Championship in Czechia and the men’s Under-18 World Championship in the United States, as well as the men’s World Championship in Germany from 14 to 30 May 2027. The women’s championship in November 2027 is also covered.
The IIHF said it disagreed with the ruling and warned of problems involving visas, security, logistics and the format of the competitions. “The global impact of the ruling and the challenges it creates have been significantly underestimated,” the federation said.
The next step depends on whether CAS accepts the challenge and whether it requests additional submissions from the parties. The court has still not published a separate ruling on the allegations concerning the arbitrators’ undisclosed ties to Russia.
Sources: nytimes.com, sports.yahoo.com, united24media.com