16 Facts About IIHF

1. The IIHF maintains its own hall of fame for international ice hockey.

2. Main functions of the IIHF are to govern, develop and organize hockey throughout the world.

3. The IIHF is the body responsible with arranging the sponsorships, license rights, advertising and merchandising in connection with all IIHF competitions.

4. The IIHF is responsible for processing the international players' transfers.

5. The president of the IIHF is basically the representative of the federation.

6. IIHF represents the federation's interests in all external matters and he is responsible that the decisions are made according to the federation's statutes and regulations.

7. In 1968 the IIHF organized the European U19 Championship, a junior competition for players aged 19 and under.

8. IIHF continued to grow in numbers during the 1980s and 1990s, both due to political events and the continued growth of hockey worldwide.

9. The influx of new members resulted in the IIHF increasing the size of the Group A tournament.

10. IIHF received international criticism for holding the 2014 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in Belarus because of the poor human rights record of the country.

11. In January 2021, the IIHF withdrew the 2021 World Championship from Minsk due to safety and security issues during the political unrest, besides the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to solely hold the tournament in Riga, Latvia.

12. On February 28, 2022, the IIHF announced that the memberships of the Russian and Belarusian hockey federations would be suspended until further notice due to the countries' invasion of Ukraine.

13. From 1992 to 1997, the IIHF loaned its exhibits to the International Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

14. The IIHF agreed with the National Hockey League to transfer its exhibits to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada, as of 29 July 1998.

15. IIHF is a relatively small organization, with about twenty members of staff employed at the headquarters in Zurich.

16. The IIHF recognizes Chile as an affiliated member that only participates in inline championships.