MONTREAL — The World Cup of Hockey will return in 2028, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced Wednesday.
The tournament, which will be held in February 2028 and is jointly organized by the NHL and the NHLPA, continues an international calendar that includes the 4 Nations Face-Off, which began Wednesday, and the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics and 2030 French Alps Olympics.
Speaking before the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off at Bell Centre in Montreal, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh and NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey made the announcement during a joint press conference.
“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. With this tournament — and the World Cup’s return to regular rotation — the NHL and NHLPA take a major step in our joint commitment to international hockey.”
The 2028 tournament will mark the fourth World Cup of Hockey (1996, 2004 and 2016). A bidding process for host cities and venues is expected to open in the coming months.
“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,” Walsh said. “It is one of the greatest honors for any player who gets to play on the global stage wearing their home country’s hockey sweater. 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 4 Nations Face-Off is the first international best-on-best tournament with NHL players since the World Cup of Hockey 2016 in Toronto. The NHL did not send players to the Winter Olympics in 2018 and 2022 but will send them to Italy next February.
The World Cup of Hockey 2028 will be played on NHL-sized rinks using NHL rules and officiated by NHL officials. Other competition details will be determined by the NHLPA and NHL in consultation with third parties, where appropriate, in the coming months.
“It’s great, something that we’ve missed for a long period of time now,” Sweden and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “If we can get to a schedule where every second year there’s big tournament played, I think that’s ideal for everyone.”
Additional details, including participating teams, tournament dates and time, broadcast information, training camp dates and locations, will be announced later this year. Iconic imagery, stats and recaps from all three World Cups of Hockey (1994, 2004 and 2016) can be found in a new, one-stop shop for international tournament records on Records.NHL.com.
