BRATISLAVA, November 6, 2019 - At the Press Conference of the Ice Hockey World Championship 2019 in Bratislava (Slovakia) the current president of the international Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced his retirement. “I’m turning 70 next year and after 25 years (since 1994) working for the IIHF it is time to retire.”

At the next Ice Hockey World Championship 2020 in his home country Switzerland (Lausanne and  Zürich) he will say “Farewell”.

At the semiannual congress in St. Petersburg a new president will be elected by all members of the national ice hockey associations.

On the table are five candidates (all members of the IIHF Executive); Henrik Bach-Nielsen (Denmark), Peter Briza (Czech Republik), Sergej Gontcharev (Belarus), Bob Nicholson (Canada) and Franz Reindl (Germany).