CAS arbitrator trip to Moscow raises questions over Russia’s ice hockey reinstatement, Digi Mart USA News: On October 30, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne issued a ruling that threw the ice hockey world into turmoil. The three-member CAS panel found that the International Ice Hockey Federation’s (IIHF) stated reason for excluding Russia, security concerns, was no longer sufficient to keep Russian national teams banned.
In other sports, such as curling, different CAS arbitrators decided that Russia should remain excluded, in part because those federations cited other grounds, such as boycott threats from other national federations. Reports now question the integrity of the arbitrators handling the hockey case.
The panel was chaired by Italian Giulio Palermo and included Egyptian Ismail Selim and British arbitrator Mark Hovell.
According to the Swiss news portal Inside Paradeplatz, Palermo attended the Russian International Arbitration Congress in Moscow as a speaker in September. The congress was organized by the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration, an independent non-profit organization based in Moscow that administers national and international arbitration proceedings.
The report says CAS was unaware of the trip, which Palermo reportedly paid for himself.
Palermo’s nomination to the case between the IIHF and the Russian federation came only after his Moscow visit. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, however, stressed that there are no circumstances that could compromise Palermo’s independence.
Even so, the trip could have consequences. Canadian journalist Gord Miller reports that Palermo’s failure to disclose the trip in advance could give the IIHF grounds to appeal the case to the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
Ismail Selim also reportedly attended a similar congress in Moscow in spring 2025. However, there are no reports that CAS was unaware of that trip.
Under the CAS ruling, Russia would have to be readmitted to international tournaments as early as this season. Opposition is growing, however.
The first affected event would be the U20 World Championship in the Canadian cities of Edmonton and Red Deer. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Russian officials will not receive visas to enter Canada and that Russian players already in Canada’s junior leagues may not represent their country on Canadian soil.
Carney reaffirmed this position on Monday evening.
Reports indicate that Hockey Canada will soon notify the IIHF of the government’s decision. The IIHF would then, based on that decision, exclude Russia from the U20 World Championship again and reinstate Norway in the schedule.
At the same time, reports say the international federation is opening an investigation into the Russian federation for admitting Ukrainian teams from occupied Donbas into Russian leagues. This would reportedly violate IIHF regulations and could serve as the basis for another fundamental exclusion of Russia’s national teams.
