NHL reveals new international hockey plan involving Olympics and World Cup
The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament gets underway tonight, but it will only be an appetizer when it comes to international best-on-best hockey.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh announced that they’re bringing back the World Cup of Hockey in 2028, and it’ll be a regular occurrence on the international calendar alongside the Olympics.
Walsh did acknowledge that an agreement to send NHL players to the Olympics hasn’t been signed yet, but that is expected to get done fairly soon.
“International best-on-best competition is very important to our players – representing their countries on the ice is in their DNA — and hockey fans love it,” Bettman said.
“Resuming Olympic participation next season and staging a World Cup of Hockey in February 2028 will provide expanded opportunity for more players to represent more nations in best-on-best competition.”
Gary Bettman says they’re moving forward with 2028 World Cup.
They’ll be asking potential host cities to bid for games. #NHL pic.twitter.com/Bk5BiXwaCf
— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) February 12, 2025
Host cities for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey will be decided by a bid process. The commissioner confirmed that European cities will be able to make bids as well.
The World Cup of Hockey has been held three times before in the NHL’s history, with the last time coming in 2016. Back then, the tournament was held in Toronto and featured two gimmick teams, Team North America and Team Europe. In the end, it was Canada who came out on top as they swept Europe in the best-of-three final.
Bettman stated that this new tournament is expected to ditch those “melded” teams and focus on just countries.
At least eight teams will participate in 2028, which will mean a new generation of NHL superstars will get to represent their countries on the world stage.
“The Players love representing their countries on the international hockey stage, and we are thrilled to pick up on the momentum of the 4 Nations Face-Off by announcing the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2028 to establish a full international calendar of best-on-best,” said Walsh.
“Hockey fans around the world are about to be treated to exceptional hockey with the best players in the world competing against each other for international hockey glory.”
The goal is to have an international best-on-best event happen every two years with an upcoming schedule that looks like this:
- 2026 – Olympics
- 2028 – World Cup of Hockey
- 2030 – Olympics
- 2032 – World Cup of Hockey
- 2034 – Olympics
- 2036 – World Cup of Hockey
With the news of the World Cup returning and Olympic hockey on the horizon, you can bet there will be an extra tinge of excitement with the 4 Nations.