The 4 Nations Face-Off marked a major return of best-on-best international hockey and set momentum for NHL participation in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics and the 2028 and 2032 World Cups. NHL leadership expects an eight-team 2028 World Cup with preliminary games staged in one European city and one North American city, and semifinals and the final hosted in a North American city. Likely national participants include Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany. Continued exclusion of Russia from Olympic competition makes a 2028 Russian entry unlikely, and revival of composite teams such as Team Europe or Team North America appears remote.
The stage is now set for NHL players to attend the upcoming 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, as well as the NHL's own 2028 and 2032 World Cup of Hockey. Further to this, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told me today they expect 8 countries to participate in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, with preliminary games in 1 European city and one North American city, and 1 NA city to host the semis and the final. https://t.co/QEGTixDRHV- David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) August 22, 2025
The Fourth Peroid's David Pagnotta reported Friday afternoon that the NHL generally expects a total of eight countries to participate in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey and for the tournament to travel from one European city to one over here in North America. Let's dive deeper into this new news and speculate on the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. What city will host the World Cup of Hockey?
Pagnotta's tweet and the tournament website mention there are to be eight teams participating, with the tweet stating two (and maybe three) host cities. In terms of the eight teams participating, I'd imagine it's Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Germany. With the Russians banned from the 2026 Olympics, it's tough to see them allowed back by 2028,
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