Coach Nepomnyashchy called for depriving countries of the right to hold tournaments for boycotting Russia

The refusal of a number of European countries to play with the Russian national team is a political decision with double standards that has nothing to do with sports. Football coach Valery Nepomnyashchy shared this belief with Izvestia on November 5.

"Sport has always united, never separated. <...> Americans and Canadian hockey players are very sorry, they say that when Russians play, very interesting tournaments come out," he said.

Nepomnyashchy stressed that countries that do not allow Russian athletes to participate in competitions should be deprived of the right to host international tournaments.

"The International Olympic Committee needs to speak loudly here," the coach summed up.

Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Mike Carney said that the Russian youth hockey team would not participate in the World Cup, which would be held in the country.

Norway, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Austria also announced their intention to boycott the games against the Russian national team at the World Cup in 2027. At the same time, in Germany, where the championship is to be held, they allowed the possibility of refusing to hold competitions. In turn, a representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on November 4 that the agency had found no signs of discrimination in the intention of the European federations to boycott the games with the Russian national team.

On October 30, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ordered the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to allow Russian national teams to participate in international competitions. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev clarified that the court overturned all five resolutions of the IIHF council, on the basis of which Russian teams were suspended from tournaments.