Sports infrastructure in Kazakhstan took a major step forward on Sunday with the opening of a new 12,000-seat ice hockey venue in the capital of Astana – which could be used to jointly host an IIHF World Championships.

Asked by news agency Kazinform about the possibility of Astana hosting a World Championships, International Ice Hockey Federation (IHHF) president Rene Fasel said “It would be great. Why not? 

“This is a great arena and it has the right atmosphere. 12 thousand seats, it is just an ideal capacity.

“There is also a great arena in Almaty, we could organize the world championship in two cities. This is a good idea.”

A 12,000-seat Ice Arena is currently under construction in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, which will include two ice sheets and a swimming pool. 

The Almaty Ice Arena, which formed part of the city’s bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, will be used for the 2017 Winter University Games (Universiade).

At 12,000 seats, Astana’s New Ice Arena is twice the capacity of any existing ice rink in the Central Asian former Soviet republic. It replaces the Sports Palace Kazakhstan, which the IIHF says was among the worst rated in the Russian-based cross-border Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

With an academy and swimming-pool complex, the venue will play a role in Kazakhstan’s wider ambitions for sports development.

Astana is also preparing to host EXPO 2017, an International Specialised Expo established by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

Kazakhstan’s long-standing president Nursultan Nazarbayev visited Astana’s New Ice Arena on Saturday and gave it his approval.

The opening was marked by a showpiece face-off between Rene Fasel and Kazakhstan Ice Hockey Federation president Askar Mamin before a game between Barys Astana and Metallurg Novokuznetsk kicked off the pre-season.

“I congratulate you and all the ice hockey fans of Astana and Kazakhstan on having this new arena. The ice is among the best around Europe,” Fasel told Kazinform.

“I like this country a lot, and this is not my first trip here. People in Kazakhstan are very friendly and hostpitable." 

The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation (SIHF) on Monday submitted its official candidacy for the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)’s 2020 World Championship. 

Switzerland had previously announced it would bid for 2019, but is now targeting the 2020 edition. 

This leaves Slovakia as the only applicant for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

The SIHF is being supported by international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media during the candidature phase, building upon their previous successful cooperation for the 2009 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Berne and Kloten.

“We are delighted to be entering the candidacy and are confident that we can soon bring the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship to Switzerland,” said SIHF president Marc Furrer.

“Such an ice hockey festival in our country will further boost our sport. Therefore it is even more important that we can count on Infront for the joint venture.”

If Switzerland’s bid is successful, Infront will manage the organisation and the national marketing of the tournament in a 50/50 joint venture with SIHF.

“We are delighted to support the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation at this early stage already and to jointly lay the foundation for potentially carrying out the event in Switzerland in five years,” said Bruno Marty, executive director winter sports at Infront.

“We will contribute our expertise from many successful consulting assignments and partnerships for past IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships to provide fans, media and sponsors with not only top international sporting events, but also a first-class tournament experience.”

The SIHF’s candidacy documentation, which it has submitted to the IIHF headquarters in Zurich, proposes to use Zurich’s 11,200-seat Hallenstadion as the main venue for the Championship with potential second venues in Lausanne or Zug. 

The tournament will take place over three weeks in April/May 2020.

Switzerland, 7th in the World Ranking, has hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship eight times, four of which were in the Zurich region. 

Slovakia, 8th in the World Ranking, hosted its only IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship as an independent country in 2011 in Bratislava and Kosice. Bratislava also co-hosted the 1959 and 1992 World Championships with Prague.

The venues for the 2019 World Championship bid will be named in the upcoming weeks, according to the IIHF. The Slovak Ice Hockey Association announced Bratislava and Kosice as potential candidates in September but has kept its options open.

No other candidate federations have come forward for the 2019 or 2020 World Championships at time of publication. 

The host of both the 2019 and 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships will be announced in May 2015 at the IIHF Congress in Prague, Czech Republic during the 2015 World Championships.

The 2016 World Championships will be hosted in Moscow & St. Petersburg; 2017 in Cologne and Paris; and 2018 in Copenhagen & Herning.

The IIHF will make a decision on the respective bids from the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and Swiss Ice Hockey Federation at its 2015 Annual Congress in Prague during the Czech Republic’s hosting of the national team tournament in May next year.

Slovakia hosted the 2011 World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice and the two cities are at the heart of its latest bid, with the possibility of adding a new multifunctional arena should one be built elsewhere in the country. Bratislava was also a host city when the former Czechoslovakia staged the event in 1959 and 1992.

The Swiss Ice Hockey Federation will announce its bid venues in October. Berne and Zurich-Kloten were its host cities when it last staged the World Championship in 2009 - the eighth time the competition went to Switzerland in its history.

Russia and France/Germany will host the 2016 and 2017 World Championships respectively, while Denmark won a landslide vote in May to serve as host for the first time in 2018. The Scandinavian country had fallen short on two previous occasions.

Denmark’s successful bid will result in Copenhagen and Herning serving as host cities under a proposal that overcame a pitch from the Latvian capital Riga by 95 votes to 12. The latter bid was seeking to hold the tournament at Arena Riga, which was home to the 2006 World Championship.

This year’s IIHF World Championship took place in Minsk, Belarus. The host nation bowed out at the quarter-final stage to bronze-medal winner Sweden, which in turn lost to eventual winner Russia - 5-2 final victors over Finland.

Matches took place at the Minsk Arena and Chizhovka Arena, which had respective capacities of 15,000 and 9,600.