Bandy World Championship Explained

Bandy World Championship
Current Season:2023 Bandy World Championship
Sport:Bandy
Teams:11 (2023)
Champion:
(13th title)
Most Champs:
(14 titles)
Countries:Worldwide

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]

History

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".)

Participating nations

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.

Participation details

1957-2001
Team
part of Soviet Union7th
6th 6th 7th 7th
2nd 3rd bgcolor=silver2nd 4th 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 3rd bgcolor=silver2nd 3rd
8th 7th 8th 8th
part of Soviet Union 4th 4th 5th 4th
7th 8th 9th
4th4th bgcolor=silver2nd 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th4th 4th 4th 4th4th 4th 4th 3rd 5th 5th 4th 5th
part of Soviet Unionbgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd 1st bgcolor=gold1st
bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st 1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st 1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st 2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=gold1st 3rd 1st bgcolor=gold1st defunct
3rd bgcolor=silver2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd 2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd 2nd bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=silver2nd 1st 3rd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st 1st 3rd 2nd
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
2003-2023
Team 032223Total
6th 7th 6th 6th 6th 6th 6th 7th 7th 6th 7th 6th 6th 8th 15
9th 8th 8th 8th 8th 7th 8th 8th 8th 8th 9th 14th 16
15th 16th 17th 12th 18th 5
15th 16th 15th 16th 10th5
15th 12th 9th 7th 7th 7th x 7th7
8th 10th 10th 12th 12th 10th 9th 12th 11th 10th 9th 14th 11th 9th x 15
4th bgcolor=gold1st 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd bgcolor=silver4th 4th 4th 4th bgcolor=silver3rd 3rd 3rd x bgcolor=silver2nd 40
10th 1
11th 9th 10th 13th 13th 10th 10th 9th 10th 11th 10th 10th 10th 8th 11th 9th 6th18
13th 13th 12th 13th 13th 12th 10th 12th 15th 9
3rd 4th 3rd 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 4th 5th 4th 4th x 4th22
14th 1
8th 9th 10th 8th 9th 10th 9th 9th 7th 8th 13th 14th 12
11th 11th 12th 12th 11th 14th 14th 12th 11th 13th 12th 11
9th 11th 9th 10th 9th 11th 11th 9th 11th 11th 12th 13th 11th 14th 15th 9th 8th 13th 8th22
5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 4th 6th 5th x 3rd38
2nd 3rd 2nd bgcolor=gold1st 1st 1st bgcolor=silver2nd 2nd 1st bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=gold1st 1st 1st 1st bgcolor=silver2nd 1st bgcolor=gold1st x 22
15th 16th 11th 9th4
17th 16th 17th 18th 16th 20th 18th 7
bgcolor=gold1st 2nd bgcolor=gold1st 2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd 1st bgcolor=gold1st 3rd bgcolor=gold1st 2nd bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=silver2nd 3rd 1st bgcolor=silver2nd 2nd x 1st40
19th 17th 11th3
14th 16th 11th 13th 14th 17th 10th 7
7th 6th 7th 7th 7th 7th 7th 6th 6th 6th 7th 6th 8th 7th 6th 5th 6th x 5th27
Total teams 9 11 11 12 12 13 13 11 11 14 14 17 16 18 18 16 20 10 (18*) 0 11

Competition format

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.

Broadcasting

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.

Results

width=2%No.width=4%Yearwidth=10%Host
width=10%Final venue (host city) *width=1% rowspan=40 bgcolor=ffffffwidth=14%Gold medalwidth=10%Resultwidth=14%Silver medalwidth=1% rowspan=40 bgcolor=ffffffwidth=14%Bronze medalwidth=10%Resultwidth=14%Fourth placewidth=3%Teams
I1957
Details
Olympic Stadium (Helsinki)Round-robin
(6–1)
Round-robinOnly three teams participated3
II1961
Details
Bislett Stadium (Oslo)Round-robin
(2–1)
Round-robin
(4–3)
4
III1963
Details
Skogsvallen (Nässjö)Round-robin
(6–1)
Round-robin
(12–0)
4
IV1965
Details
Central Stadium (Sverdlovsk)Round-robin
(4–0)
Round-robin
(1–2)
4
V1967
Details
Raatti Stadium (Oulu)Round-robin
(1–1)
Round-robin
(2–1)
4
VI1969
Details
Vinterstadion (Örebro) and Studenternas IP (Uppsala)Round-robin
(4–2, 2–1)
Round-robinOnly three teams participated3
VII1971
Details
Vinterstadion (Örebro) and Söderstadion (Stockholm)Round-robin
(2–2, 2–1)
Round-robin
(6–1, 7–1)
4
VIII1973
Details
Central Dynamo Stadium (Moscow)Round-robin
(5–1, 1–0)
Round-robin
(3–2, 3–4)
4
IX1975
Details
Pohjan stadion (Tornio) and Hänninhauta (Mikkeli)Round-robin
(1–3, 7–2)
Round-robin
(2–1, 2–2)
4
X1977
Details
Valle Hovin (Oslo) and Marienlyst Stadion (Drammen)Round-robin
(2–3, 3–2)
Round-robin
(5–1, 2–4)
4
XI1979
Details
Vänersborgs isstadion (Vänersborg) and Spånga IP (Stockholm)Round-robin
(4–3, 4–2)
Round-robin
(8–2, 6–2)
4
XII1981
Details
Central Lenin Stadium (Khabarovsk)Round-robin
(6–1, 1–3)
Round-robin
(6–1, 5–1)
4
XIII1983
Details
Oulunkylä Ice Rink (Helsinki)9–34–14
XIV1985
Details
Valle Hovin (Oslo)5–4
6–25
XV1987
Details
Söderstadion (Stockholm)7–211–35
XVI1989
Details
Olympic Stadium (Moscow)12–26–05
XVII1991
Details
Oulunkylä Ice Rink (Helsinki)4–38–08
XVIII1993
Details
Hamar Olympic Hall (Hamar)8–05–38
XIX1995
Details
John Rose Minnesota Oval (Roseville)6–43–28
XX1997
Details
Rocklunda IP (Västerås)10–59–39
XXI1999
Details
Trud Stadium (Arkhangelsk)5–09–16
XXII2001
Details
Raksila Ice Rink (Oulu)6–13–27
XXIII2003
Details
Trud Stadium (Arkhangelsk)5–44–19
XXIV2004
Details
Sweden
Hungary
Rocklunda IP (Västerås)5–4
5–211
XXV2005
Details
Trudovye Rezervy Stadium (Kazan)5–25–311
XXVI2006
Details
Zinkensdamms IP (Stockholm)3–27–412
XXVII2007
Details
Khimik Stadium (Kemerovo)3–15–4
12
XXVIII2008
Details
Olympic Stadium (Moscow)6–18–313
XXIX2009
Details
ABB Arena South (Västerås)6–17–313
XXX2010
Details
Ice Palace Krylatskoye (Moscow)6–5
4–3
11
XXXI2011
Details
Trudovye Rezervy Stadium (Kazan)6–114–311
XXXII2012
Details
Medeu (Almaty)5–410–514
XXXIII2013
Details
Arena Vänersborg (Vänersborg) 4–36–314
XXXIV2014
Details
Trud Stadium (Irkutsk)3–25–317
XXXV2015
Details
Arena Yerofey (Khabarovsk)5–38–616
XXXVI2016
Details
Trud Stadium (Ulyanovsk)
Russia
6–14–018
XXXVII2017
Details
Göransson Arena (Sandviken)4–311–1
Norway
18
XXXVIII2018
Details
Arena Yerofey (Khabarovsk)5–48–416
XXXIX2019
Details
Arena Vänersborg (Vänersborg)6–5
8–220
XL2020
Details
A Division cancelled10 (18**)
XLI2022
Details
Cancelled-
XLII2023
Details
Eriksson Arena (Växjö)width=1% rowspan=1 bgcolor=ffffff3–1width=1% rowspan=1 bgcolor=ffffff5–111
XLIII2024Cancelled-
XLIV2025
Details
Sparbanken Lidköping Arena (Lidköping)width=1% rowspan=1 bgcolor=ffffff
* 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.

Medal table

Countries in italics no longer compete at the World Championships.

Consecutive wins

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.

Final arenas (since 1983)

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.TimesCountryArena CityYearsNote
12Helsinki1983, 1991
12Arkhangelsk1999, 2003
12Västerås1997, 2004
12Olympic StadiumMoscow1989, 2008Indoor arena
12Kazan2005, 2011
12Khabarovsk2015, 2018Indoor arena
12Vänersborg2013, 2019Indoor arena
81Oslo1985
81Stockholm1987
81Hamar Olympic HallHamar1993Indoor arena
81Roseville1995
81Oulu2001
81Stockholm2006
81Kemerovo2007
81Västerås2009Indoor arena
81Moscow2010Indoor arena
81Almaty2012
81Irkutsk2014
81Ulyanovsk2016
81Sandviken2017Indoor arena
81Växjö2023Indoor arena

External links

See main article: world championships.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sweden and Finland boycott World Bandy Championships in Russia.
  2. Web site: FIB - World Championships in Russia postponed!.
  3. Web site: The Finnish Bandy Federation, in English. Finnish Bandy Federation. February 12, 2014.
  4. "Somali team seeking to be masters of ice sport bandy", BBC-online, 3 January 2014.
  5. http://habex.ru/paper/718/13686/ 35-й чемпионат мира по хоккею с мячом стартовал в Хабаровске
  6. Web site: Венерсборг идёт на рекорд! - Архив новостей - Федерация хоккея с мячом России.
  7. Web site: Армения готова участвовать в чемпионате мира - Архив новостей - Федерация хоккея с мячом России.
  8. Web site: Борис Скрынник: Хоккей с мячом – третий по посещаемости игровой вид спорта в России | BANDYNET.RU.
  9. Web site: Армения готова участвовать в чемпионате мира - Архив новостей - Федерация хоккея с мячом России.
  10. Web site: Литва и Беларусь могут принять участие в чемпионате мира | BANDYNET.RU.
  11. Web site: A poster showing the flags of the registered teams for the 2011 tournament, including that of Australia, which in the end did not show up . 2017-02-19 . 2013-12-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001903/http://cs10970.vk.me/u16068958/126587056/x_6851a48b.jpg . dead .
  12. Web site: ТАСС .
  13. Web site: World Championship will be broadcast on main TV channels . 2012-01-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150709071231/http://worldbandy.com/news.asp?newsid=59&title=World%20Championship%20will%20be%20broadcasted%20on%20main%20TV%20channels . 2015-07-09 . dead .