Swedish furniture manufacturer AJ Products will not sponsor next year's Ice Hockey World Championship. The decision followed a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that Russia is permitted to compete in the tournament.
AJ Products will terminate its partnership with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which dates back to 1989. AJ's executive chairman David Bray stated that the AJ logo would not be associated with the IIHF's men's World Championship given that Russia has once again been allowed to participate.
Bray highlighted that they had a long-standing partnership with the IIHF lasting 37 years. He added that this decision had been extremely easy.
On Friday, CAS issued a decision allowing Russia to return to the international ice hockey scene. Russia had been excluded from the international ice hockey scene since February 2022 due to its invasion of Ukraine.
Czech betting company Tipsport, another IIHF sponsor, called the CAS decision 'scandalous'. Tipsport announced that it would not advertise during matches involving the Russian national team. It will decide on its further actions after other national federations have expressed their views on the new situation.
The 90th senior Ice Hockey World Championship will be played in May next year. The host cities for the World Championship are the German cities of Duesseldorf, Gelsenkirchen and Mannheim.
