On Day 1 of the General Managers Meetings, the NHL and NHLPA announced Calgary and Edmonton as the North American host cities for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. Meanwhile, in Prague, Czechia. will host the European leg of the tournament.
The new state-of-the-art arena in Calgary, Scotia Place, and the O2 Arena in Prague will each host seven games: six round robin games and one elimination game. The semi-finals and final will be played indoors at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
There is no international competition in sports like the passion, skill, and excitement of hockey’s best coming together to represent their countries — last year. 4 Nations face each other and the late Winter The Olympics were just the latest examples,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press release. “We at the National Hockey League and our partners at the National Hockey League Players’ Association can’t wait to bring World Cup of Hockey 2028 to three beautiful places in three prominent cities where they hold big events. We know that Calgary, Edmonton and Prague will serve as great hosts for hockey fans from all over the world, and that the world’s greatest hockey players will compete at a level that will make this event truly memorable.
Hockey World Cup May See Expansion In Coming Years
Ahead of the Four Nations Faceoff last February, when the League and the Players Association re-launched professional hockey, they announced a new International Hockey calendar, which will see the Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey played every two years.
“We are moving forward with the World Cup two years after the Olympics in 2028,” said Bettman last February. “We will be soliciting bids to host the games. We will have a package that is almost finished, and it will be available in the next few weeks. And we couldn’t be more excited to make it a reality. The Olympics, the World Cup, the Olympics, and the World Cup are on the regular schedule for the best hockey players in the world representing their countries. We know that these full games, which will be a sample of the World Cup, will be just a sample, the World Cup.
At the time, the NHL had just opened the bidding process for participating cities. Like the Four Nations Faceoff, the World Cup of Hockey is an NHL-NHLPA event. Currently, there is no input from the IIHF other than that they are following the ban of Russian athletes from International Hockey events. However, that could change in 2028.
The World Cup of Hockey Needs to Be Better
Regarding the cities that will host this program, when Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Calgary a few weeks ago to present the new Flames stadium, he was asked about this city’s request. He answered and said, “Nothing has been finalized. I know about the bid. It was a good bid. I’m not going to tell you today whether it was a winning bid or not; it’s a bid that people can be proud of.”
At the time, he was not ready to announce the winning bids because Calgary and Edmonton had submitted a joint bid. The League was still in the process, and it could take several weeks to finalize the plans.
“It’s a work in progress. Things still need to be finalized, that’s why there is no announcement yet. But in the not too distant future, in a few weeks or so, we should be in a position to finalize the announcement.”
A few weeks later, the NHL and the NHLPA made their announcement as Bettman had said. Again, he’s not going to Calgary to present only if the NHL doesn’t have much interest in having that city host the World Cup of Hockey.
NHL News: Matthew Tkachuk and the NHL World Cup of Hockey
However, now the city of Calgary will host the North American leg of the World Cup of Hockey, with Edmonton hosting the semifinals and finals. There was talk that Stockholm, Sweden, could host the European part of the World Cup of Hockey. Instead, Prague will be the host.
The World Cup of Hockey will bring together the eight best hockey countries in the world who play the best in the best hockey in February 2028.
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