2023 Bandy World Championship

The 2023 Bandy World Championship was an international bandy tournament between bandy playing nations. The tournament was played in Åby, a subdivision of Växjö City in Sweden. Two separate tournaments for men's national teams and women's national teams took place. This Bandy World Championship marked an important development for the sport at the international level. For the first time the men's world championships took place at the same time and in the same arena as the Women's Bandy World Championship which served as the international female equivalent for the sport known as the 2023 Women's Bandy World Championship. This article deals chiefly with the men's world competition.

2023 Bandy World Championship

XLII Bandy World Championship
Tournament details
Host country	Sweden
City	Växjö (Åby)
Venue(s)	Eriksson Arena (in 1 host city)
Dates	28 March – 2 April (Division A) 24–27 March (Division B)
Teams	5 (Division A) and 6 (Division B)
Final positions
Champions	Sweden (13th title)
Runner-up	Finland
Third place	Norway
Fourth place	Kazakhstan
Tournament statistics
Games played	33
Goals scored	274 (8.3 per game)
Attendance	5,542 (168 per game)
Scoring leader(s)	Division A Christoffer Edlund (12 goals)
MVP	Martin Landström
Official website
2023 Men's and Women's Bandy World Championship 2023

According to original plans, the 2023 championship tournament would have been hosted by Russia, but since Russia is excluded from international play due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the idea was brought forward during autumn of 2022 that a world championship should be arranged in Sweden instead. With the permission of the Federation of International Bandy, the Swedish Bandy Association therefore sent an invitation, in the form of an inquiry of interest, to all countries which at the 2019 Bandy World Championship qualified to compete in the A Division of the next world championship, except Russia. Countries invited are thus Finland, Norway, Kazakhstan, United States, Germany, Estonia, and Hungary.

The national men's bandy teams from Latvia and Estonia decided not to participate in the 2023 tournament. Other member national bandy federations which had previously competed but would not compete in 2023 stated costs as the main factor preventing them from participating in the event.

No A Division of a world championship has been played since 2019, which is why the qualification at that year's championship has been the basis for the invitations. In 2020 the A Division was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2021 there was no world championship at all for the same reason. The 2022 Bandy World Championship was to be played in Russia, but it was cancelled since most countries did not want to play in or against Russia following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Four national teams decided to withdraw after the invasion began.

Venues

All matches were played in Eriksson Arena, Åby.

Åby class=notpageimage| Both men's and women's games take place in Åby, a subdivision of Växjö City in Sweden		Sweden
		Åby
		Venue Eriksson Arena Capacity: 2,000
		Founded	13 November 2019

Doping detection dog

The world's first doping detection dog will be present for the tournament, an 8-year-old Springer Spaniel named Molly. Molly will be used to detect certain banned substances that are not allowed as per the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) prohibited list.

Squads

Main article: 2023 Bandy World Championship squads

Qualified nations

Division A

Finland
Kazakhstan
Norway
Sweden
USA

Division B

Czech Republic
Germany
Hungary
Netherlands
Slovakia
Switzerland

Division A

Preliminary round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden (H)	4	3	1	0	43	5	+38	7	Final
2	Finland	4	3	1	0	31	6	+25	7
3	Norway	4	2	0	2	23	26	−3	4	Third place game
4	Kazakhstan	4	1	0	3	9	28	−19	2
5	United States	4	0	0	4	5	46	−41	0

Source: FIB
(H) Hosts

28 March

10:30

United States	0–14	Finland
	Report	Tero Liimatainen  11' Kalle Lempinen  17' Riku Hämäläinen  25' Jimi Heinonen  32',  55' Teemu Määttä  45',  47' Casper Hänninen  50' Emil Fedorov  52',  54' Jaakko Hyvönen  69' Niklas Holopainen  72' Tommi Määttä  80' Topi Saukkonen  82'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 160

Referee: Mats Eriksson

28 March

13:30

Norway	2–16	Sweden
Nikolai Rustad Jensen  75' Fredrik Nordby  78'	Report	Erik Pettersson  3' Dennis Henriksen  8' Martin Landström  10', 36' Martin Karlsson  13', 73' Oskar Wikblad  23',  27',  43',  45',  77' Albin Airisniemi  41' Christoffer Edlund  49'  60',  69' Joel Broberg  90'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 163

Referee: Mats-Olof Gustafsson

---

29 March

12:00

Finland	8–1	Kazakhstan
Jimi Heinonen  10' Jaakko Hyvönen  17',  31' Emil Fedorov  27' Riku Hämäläinen  46' Tuomas Liukkonen  82',  83' Kalle Lempinen  83'	Report	Rauan Issaliyev  33'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 25

Referee: Jonas Kandell

29 March

16:30

Sweden	13–1	United States
Albin Airisniemi  1',  21' Christoffer Edlund  5',  18',  37',  46',  51',  83' Martin Landström  33',  36' Erik Pettersson  47' Christoffer Fagerström  53' Joel Broberg  85'	Report	Daren Richardson  45'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 163

Referee: Mats-Olof Gustafsson

---

30 March

10:00

Finland	7–3	Norway
Emil Fedorov  9',  17',  34',  78',  83' Kalle Lempinen  45' Tero Liimatainen  47'	Report	Petter Yngve Löining K  36' Nikolai Rustad Jensen  41' Fritiof Hagberg  79'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 94

Referee: Jonas Kandell

30 March

16:30

Kazakhstan	7–2	United States
Rauan Issaliyev  4',  85' Kuanysh Temiralin  19',  28' Maxim Utebaliyev  45',  86' Petr Gribanov  57'	Report	Evan Richardson  33' Mikael Lickteig  80'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 82

Referee: Mats Eriksson

---

31 March

12:30

Kazakhstan	1–6	Norway
Denis Maximenko  42'	Report	Petter Yngve Löining  6',  22',  28' Markus Fremstad  14' Tobias Tinius Mofjell  72' Fritiof Hagberg  88'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 103

Referee: Mats-Olof Gustaffson

31 March

19:00

Sweden	2–2	Finland
Martin Karlsson  2',  58'	Report	Jimi Heinonen  19',  51'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 1,009

Referee: Mats Eriksson

---

1 April

11:30

United States	2–12	Norway
Mikael Lickteig  81' Kevin Brown  90'	Report	Felix Callander  1' Fredrik Nordby  25',  65',  89' Markus Fremstad  28' Petter Yngve Löining  37' Fritiof Hagberg  39',  62' Alv Sandaroe  44' Nikolai Rustad Jensen  58',  84' Tobias Tinius Mofjell  91'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 192

Referee: Jonas Kandell

1 April

16:30

Kazakhstan	0–12	Sweden
	Report	Martin Karlsson  1' Dennis Henriksen  14' Erik Pettersson  30',  79' Christoffer Edlund  36',  88' Christoffer Fagerström  57',  60' Ted Hedell  59' Joel Broberg  65' Oskar Wikblad  86',  90'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 478

Referee: Mats-Olof Gustafsson

Final Round

Third place game

2 April

10:15

Norway	5–1	Kazakhstan
Nikolai Rustad Jensen  3',  9',  43',  90' Fredrik Nordby  78'	Report	Samat Amanshin  35'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 223

Referee: Jonas Kandell

Final

2 April

16:30

Sweden	3–1	Finland
Martin Landström  26' Joel Broberg  41' Christoffer Edlund  43'	Report	Teemu Määttä  35'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 1,946

Referee: Mats-Olof Gustafsson

Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Sweden
	Finland
	Norway
4	Kazakhstan
5	United States

Awards

Best players selected by the directorate:

• Best Goaltender: Kimmo Kyllönen
• Best Defenceman: Linus Pettersson
• Best Midfielder: Martin Landström
• Best Forward: Erik Pettersson
• MVP: Martin Landström

Division B

Preliminary round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	5	4	0	1	32	16	+16	8	Semi-finals
2	Netherlands	5	4	0	1	31	10	+21	8
3	Hungary	5	3	0	2	24	12	+12	6
4	Slovakia	5	2	1	2	17	18	−1	5
5	Czech Republic	5	1	1	3	13	21	−8	3	5th–6th place game
6	Switzerland	5	0	0	5	2	42	−40	0

Source: FIB

24 March

9:00

Netherlands	11–0	Switzerland
William Reuser  5',  21',  45',  48',  51' Robin Cras  12',  57' Sander Heinsbroek  13' Alexander Cras  33' Hidde Bakker  46' Sverre Tveitan  55'	Report

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 25

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

24 March

11:00

Germany	4–6	Slovakia
David Kall  24',  38' Maximilian Fichter  43' Michael Dunaev  30'	Report	Martin Grell  5',  13',  28' Oliver Šanko  22',  54' Michal Klejna  60'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 23

Referee: Anti Malaska

24 March

13:00

Hungary	7–0	Czech Republic
Robert Thelin  1',  43',  59',  61' Balázs Gáspár  7' Dennis Pacsay  42' André Berglönn  53'	Report

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 21

Referee: Niclas Schultz

24 March

16:00

Slovakia	1–6	Netherlands
Damián Iglovský  61'	Report	Sverre Tveitan  5' Jordan Braam  20' Alexander Cras  36',  53' Robin Cras  46' Joris Vriezen  56'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 32

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

24 March

18:00

Czech Republic	3–6	Germany
Marek Mastik  15' Ondrej Suk  43' Jan Petr  55'	Report	Bernhard Luttke  13' Michael Dunaev  32',  49',  51' Niklas Kvamme-elger  39' Sergej Naab  59'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 31

Referee: Anti Malaska

24 March

20:00

Switzerland	1–7	Hungary
Jari Koponen  24'	Report	Dennis Pacsay  11',  38' Jesper Nagy  21' Robert Thelin  27' Péter Jankovics  45' Boldizsár Béres  49',  57'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 43

Referee: Niklas Schultz

---

25 March

8:00

Germany	6–3	Hungary
Michael Dunaev  3',  24' Alexander Kolyagin  18',  32',  35',  53'	Report	Robert Thelin  14' Jesper Nagy  25' Dennis Pacsay  58'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 28

Referee: Anti Malaska

25 March

10:00

Slovakia	7–1	Switzerland
Imrich Tarnoczy  6',  59' Stanislav Opavský  7',  21',  52' Julius Sinkovic  19',  15'	Report	Jari Koponen  43'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 19

Referee: Niclas Schultz

25 March

12:00

Czech Republic	1–6	Netherlands
Renee Skala  34'	Report	William Reuser  4',  20' Robin Cras  14' Mees van Wijchen  37' Sverre Tveitan  53' Jordan Braam  61'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 53

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

25 March

15:00

Slovakia	1–5	Hungary
Martin Grell  42'	Report	Balázs Gáspár  11' Robert Thelin  19',  36' Dennis Pacsay  21' Jesper Nagy  44'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 42

Referee: Anti Malaska

25 March

17:00

Switzerland	0–7	Czech Republic
	Report	Renee Skala  9',  26',  40' Jakub Sarse  29' Jiri Doskocil  34' Michal Knapek  48'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 86

Referee: Niklas Schultz

25 March

19:00

Netherlands	4–6	Germany
William Reuser  8',  24' Stan Vroon  10' Sverre Tveitan  15'	Report	Elias Hjortenhed  5' Alexander Kolyagin  11',  31',  53' Anatoli Elenski  39' Michael Dunaev  57'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 83

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

---

26 March

8:00

Czech Republic	2–2	Slovakia
Renee Skala  28', Tomas Benak  30'	Report	Michal Klejna  35', Oliver Šanko  63'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 18

Referee: Niklas Schultz

26 March

10:00

Germany	10–0	Switzerland
Alexander Kolyagin  3',  4' Michael Dunaev  6',  13' Anatoli Elenski  15',  29' Sergej Naab  19' Elias Hjortenhed  28',  53' Bernhard Luttke  40'	Report

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 62

Referee: Jakob Liljegren

26 March

12:00

Netherlands	4–2	Hungary
William Reuser  6',  25',  59' Wessel Hole-Ruigrok  49'	Report	André Berglönn  27' Robert Thelin  53'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 80

Referee: Anti Malaska

Final Round

Semi-finals

26 March

17:00

Germany	8–5	Slovakia
David Kall  3',  49' Alexander Kolyagin  8',  14',  18' Michael Dunaev  21',  50' Alexander Kolyagin  60'	Report	Imrich Tarnoczy  1' Oliver Šanko  28' Michal Klejna  31' Julius Sinkovic  52' Peter Benes  57'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 40

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

26 March

19:00

Netherlands	0–2	Hungary
	Report	Dennis Pacsay  1' Balázs Kocsány  52'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 55

Referee: Anti Malaska

5th–6th place game

26 March

15:00

Czech Republic	4–2	Switzerland
Renee Skala  14',  31' Jiri Doskocil  16' Simon Vresansky  35'	Report	Patrik Meyer  1' Gian Luca Beeler  57'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 23

Referee: Niclas Schultz

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27 March

13:00

Switzerland	2–4	Czech Republic
Vitaly Iglin  21' Gian Luca Beeler  35'	Report	Renee Skala  2',  60' Tomas Benak  6' Lukas Bretzina  28'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 7

Referee: Niclas Schultz

Third place game

27 March

15:00

Slovakia	0–4	Netherlands
	Report	William Reuser  19' Robin Cras  47' Alexander Cras  56' Sverre Tveitan  60'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 51

Referee: Anti Malaska

Final

27 March

17:00

Germany	1–2	Hungary
Michael Dunaev  29'	Report	Dennis Pacsay  60',  63'

Eriksson Arena, Åby

Attendance: 82

Referee: Jacob Liljegren

Final ranking

Rank	Team
	Hungary
	Germany
	Netherlands
4	Slovakia
5	Czech Republic
6	Switzerland