Armenia And Uzbekistan Set To Join IIHF Men’s World Championship In 2025

Armenia and Uzbekistan are prepared to join the IIHF Men’s World Championship in 2025. Sources from Kuwait have confirmed that next year’s Division 4 tournament will feature relegated Iran, Kuwait, Indonesia, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, and Armenia. There is currently no host for the championship, as the lowest tier of international hockey expands from four teams to six.

Armenia Returns

Armenia will be making a long-awaited return to the World Championship program. They previously participated in Division 3 of the Men’s World Championship from 2004-2006 — going 2-10-0 with a 30-234 goal differential — before withdrawing from D3Q in 2008 because they refused to show their player’s passports to IIHF officials. That same year marked the end of their participation at the World Juniors and U18 Men’s World Championship. However, the IIHF allowed them to return in 2010 as Division 3 hosts, losing in the finals to North Korea, but they were later disqualified after an investigation revealed they used ineligible players.

The Armenians would be suspended from the IIHF until 2015 and have since been trying to rebuild their program. The nation currently has a four-team league called the Armenian Hockey League (AHL), and they play at the Olympic-size Gazprom Armenia Educational-Sport Complex in Yerevan. This league has been active since 2015, and the most recent season featured 24 native Armenian players, along with 81 Russians, according to eliteprospects. HC Peppers forward and former Vancouver Canucks draft pick Artyom Manukyan is the most intriguing in the player pool. Paired alongside his brother Tigran Manukyan, a Ukrainian champion in 2019, this could mean Armenia might have a very competitive team next season.

At the 2023 Amerigol Latam Cup, a team called Armenia HC, which was made up of Canadians and Americans with Armenian heritage, made their debut. This was all in an effort to raise more awareness for ice hockey in Armenia and that appears to already be making an impact. Armenia HC would win the Men’s Division 2 tournament by defeating Venezuela (12-1) in the finals and is expected to return in 2024.

Uzbekistan Debut

Uzbekistan’s senior team previously played at the Winter Spartakiad Games against other Soviet states from 1978-1986. Their only wins would come over the Lithuanian SSR in 1978 and 1982, losing the other thirteen games. The Uzbeks would make a return to the international stage at the 2023 Kazan Cup — a friendly tournament created to develop Islamic nations. Uzbekistan won against the Jeddah Eagles (4-2) and Bahrain (17-0), but lost to a mixed team from Algeria, Morocco, and Lebanon (2-3).

Where the true development of the sport has been made in Uzbekistan is at the IIHF U18 Asia and Oceania Cup. Making their IIHF debut in 2023, the Uzbeks dominated with a perfect 5-0-0-0 record and 44-8 goal differential to win a historic first-ever gold medal. They would earn hosting rights to the tournament in 2024 and defend their title by defeating Thailand, who also won bronze at this year’s Division 3B tournament, by a 2-1 score in the finals. Just over 1,500 fans were in attendance at Humo Arena to watch that finals victory. Uzbekistan finished the event with an 86-6 goal differential over those six wins.

The star player on those golden teams was 2007-born forward Zhasurbek Rustamkhonov. A native of Tashkent, he scored 56 (28+28) points and was a +51 over a combined 10 games as Uzbekistan’s captain. Rustamkhonov, who played for Humo Tashkent in the Kazakh-based Pro Hokei Ligasy, also became the first ever Uzbek player to score a goal in a professional league this past season. The 2025 NHL Draft eligible will now be moving to HC Burgut, a second Uzbek club coming to the Kazakh league, for 2024-25. Uzbekistan also has its own six-team championship, as the nation looks poised for international success at the World Championship.