– Forum.AD
Andorra applies to be a full member of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The inclusion would allow Andorra to compete in IIHF World Championships to be contested in the last division, and to have financial and technical support to promote the Ice Hockey in the country. The president of the Ice Sports Federation, Josep Garcia, recently returned from the IIHF congress in Turkey with hopes of meeting the this goal.
He assures that one of the most conflicting points has been the number of senior players in the Principality . “There is a certain criteria that we did not fulfill, such as the fact that we had to have 60 senior players. Then they always play the card of the volume of players based on the population of the country and they already see that we have a ratio similar to other countries or even better and they have shown us that they will be flexible on this point and that we will be allow to be full members in the year 2024”.
The Andorran Ice Sports Federation currently has close to 150 members, 42 of whom are seniors. Having its own league and a arena with Olympic sizes ice and plexiglass are other requirements demanded by the IIHF. Garcia confirms that Font-romeu and Puigcerdà will be alternative Arenas when the Palau de Gel works begin, in the spring, as they have been informed.
The Andorran Ice Sports Federation is working with its Spanish counterpart to create a second division league with six teams: 1 Andorra team, 4 Spanish teams and 1 Portuguese team.
