During Day 1 of the General Managers’ Meetings, the NHL and NHLPA announced Calgary and Edmonton as the North American host cities for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. Meanwhile, Prague, Czechia, will host the European leg of the tournament.
The new state-of-the-art venue in Calgary, Scotia Place, and the O2 Arena in Prague will each host seven games: six round-robin games and one elimination game. The Semifinals and Finals will be played inside Rogers Place in Edmonton.
There is no international competition in sports that matches the passion, skill, and excitement of hockey’s best-on-best coming together to represent their countries — last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off and the recent Winter Olympics were just the latest examples,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a press release .
“We at the National Hockey League and our partners at the National Hockey League Players’ Association can’t wait to bring the World Cup of Hockey 2028 to three spectacular venues in three cities that shine when staging big events. We know Calgary, Edmonton and Prague will serve as fantastic hosts for hockey fans from all over the globe, and that the greatest hockey players in the world will compete on a level that will make this event truly memorable
The World Cup of Hockey Could See Expansion in Years to Come
Ahead of the Four Nations Faceoff last February, when the League and the Players Association reintroduced best-on-best hockey, they announced the new International Hockey calendar, which would see the Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey played every two years.
“We are moving forward with the World Cup two years after the Olympics in 2028,” Bettman said last February. “We will be asking for bids on hosting games. We will have a package that’s just about done, and that will be available over the next few weeks. And we couldn’t be more excited about making it a reality. Olympics, World Cup, Olympics, and World Cups on a regular schedule of the best hockey players in the world representing their countries. We know the full-blown World Cup, of which this is simply a sampler, is going to be sensational.”
At that time, the NHL had just opened the bidding process for host cities. As with the Four Nations Faceoff, the World Cup of Hockey is an NHL-NHLPA event. Right now, there is no input from the IIHF other than that they are following the ban of Russian athletes in International Hockey Events. However, that could change in 2028.
World Cup of Hockey Needs To Be Best-on-Best
As for the host cities, when Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Calgary a few weeks ago for the unveiling of the new Flames arena, he was asked about the city’s bid. He responded, “Nothing has been finalized. I’m aware of the bid. It was a good bid. I’m not prepared to tell you today that it was or was not the winning bid; it’s certainly a bid that people could be very proud of.”
At that time, he was not ready to announce the winning bids because Calgary and Edmonton had submitted a joint bid. The League was still going through the process, and it might take a couple of weeks to finalize the plans.
“It is a work in progress. Things still need to be finalized, which is why there has yet to be an announcement. But at some point in the not-too-distant future, a couple of weeks or so, we should be in a position to finalize an announcement.”
A couple of weeks later, the NHL and NHLPA made their announcement as Bettman had alluded to. Again, he doesn’t go to Calgary just for an unveiling if the NHL didn’t have a serious interest in having that city host the World Cup of Hockey.
NHL News: Matthew Tkachuk and NHL World Cup of Hockey
Well, now the city of Calgary will host the North American leg of the World Cup of Hockey, with Edmonton hosting the semifinals and finals. There was talk that Stockholm, Sweden, could have hosted the European portion of the World Cup of Hockey. Instead, Prague will be the host.
The World Cup of Hockey will feature the best eight hockey nations in the world playing best-on-best hockey in February of 2028.
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