Slovak students may play hockey against a Russian team. The Universiade has let the Russians in where their world federation will not

The International University Sports Federation FISU published on 21 August the list of teams for the Winter Universiade, the world games for university students, which will take place in Changchun, China, from 15 to 25 January 2027. The hockey tournament features eighteen selections, including the abbreviation SNA — “Student Neutral Athletes from Russian Federation”, meaning student-athletes from the Russian Federation under a neutral designation. Slovakia is on the same list in both the men’s and women’s competitions. FISU ↗

Slovakia and neutral Russians on the same list

The hockey tournament in Changchun has ten men’s and eight women’s selections. The men’s teams are Canada, China, Czechia, Great Britain, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, neutral Russian students, Slovakia and the USA. The women’s teams are Canada, China, Czechia, Iran, Japan, neutral Russian players, Slovakia and the USA; the Republic of Korea and Great Britain are listed as alternates. The men’s and women’s curling teams also have the same SNA designation. FISU ↗

The schedule has not yet been published, so a direct meeting between Slovakia and the Russian selection is not certain — it will depend on the group draw and how the knockout stage develops. Russia did not have a hockey selection at either of the previous two Winter Universiades. Aktuálně.cz ↗

For Slovakia, this is not a marginal event. In Turin in January 2025, Slovak hockey players won silver after losing 1:3 to Canada in the final, with captain Jakub Uram scoring the only goal. It was Slovakia’s seventh hockey medal from the Universiades — the men have one gold from 2001, three silvers from 1999, 2019 and 2025, and two bronzes from 1993 and 2009; the women added bronze in 2011. Slovenský zväz ľadového hokeja ↗

The Slovaks reached the final through Ukraine, which they defeated 3:1 in the semi-final. The Ukrainian team eventually finished third. Ukraine is not on the starting list for Changchun. Slovenský zväz ľadového hokeja ↗ FISU ↗

A ban that does not extend to the Universiade

The world ice hockey federation IIHF has kept Russian teams out of its tournaments since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the end of July 2026, its council confirmed the ban again, citing continuing concerns about safety, security and sporting integrity. Russia will therefore also miss next year’s men’s world championships in Mannheim and Düsseldorf, Germany; the federation is to discuss the participation of Russian women in November. iDNES.cz ↗

The Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced that on 31 August it had filed its appeal documents directly with the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS and that the hearing was to take place at the end of October. If the arbitration ruled in its favour, the decision would be binding on the IIHF. According to its own statement, it is targeting not only the men’s championship but also tournaments for juniors, women and under-18 players. iDNES.cz ↗

The Universiade, however, does not fall under the ice hockey federation; it is governed by FISU — and in May 2026 FISU adopted its own framework, which expressly ended the mirroring of bans. In its view, excluding Russian students solely because of their nationality is disproportionate and incompatible with its educational mission. Neutral conditions, meaning participation without a flag or national jersey, are since then “the maximum restriction applicable at any FISU event, regardless of the position of the applicable International Federation”. Where a world federation has already fully readmitted Russians, FISU mirrors that decision instead — and in such a sport Russian students may compete under national symbols as well. FISU ↗

The trigger was a May recommendation from the International Olympic Committee, according to which young athletes should not bear responsibility for the actions of their governments. On the same day, FISU fully readmitted Belarusian students without restrictions. On 7 July, the Olympic Committee provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and with it its own recommendations to federations — according to the IOC, they no longer have to review the neutral status of Russian athletes. It has not yet approved their national flag and anthem. “We have sent a clear signal that we want to ensure that all athletes have the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Games and are not responsible for the actions of their governments,” said the committee’s president Kirsty Coventry. Ukraine called the decision premature and unjustified, as Russian aggression continues. FISU ↗ STVR ↗

Federations had already taken different approaches before the July decision. World Boxing lifted restrictions entirely, so Russian boxers compete under their own flag and anthem, while swimming, judo, fencing, wrestling, table tennis and modern pentathlon also eased sanctions. Hockey, football, athletics and biathlon continue to maintain the ban. FISU cited precisely this inconsistency as the reason it stopped copying the positions of individual federations. iDNES.cz ↗ FISU ↗

The Russian side assesses it in the same way. “This year, the International University Sports Federation expanded access for Russian competitors in sports where individual international federations continue to apply full restrictions,” explained Russian Sports Minister Michail Degťariov, adding that for Russian hockey juniors this would be the first major international tournament since 2021. The Universiade has no such age category — at its events FISU admits students aged 17 to 28, and up to 25 in basketball. The head of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation and former goalkeeper Vladislav Treťjak added that admitting student national teams was another step on the road back. Aktuálně.cz ↗

Czech institutions have not adopted a common position

Czech teams are on the same list as the Slovak ones, and this has sparked a dispute in Czechia. Ivana Ertlová, president of the executive committee of the Czech University Sports Association, wrote to iDNES.cz that the association expects both men’s and women’s hockey teams to participate. In her view, neutral status means the participation of athletes in an international university competition, not representation of the Russian state. “Pokud naše výprava neobdrží od příslušných českých institucí jiné stanovisko, budeme respektovat sportovní pravidla soutěže,” she said. iDNES.cz ↗

However, at the beginning of September, none of the institutions with leverage to do so had issued such a position. The National Sports Agency, which is subsidising university sport this year with more than 88 million korunas and acknowledges that some of it may go towards the delegation’s expenses in China, referred the decision to the association. Its chairman Karel Kovář added that the agency did not plan to issue any position or recommendation and that the association had not yet informed it of its solution. The ice hockey federation reiterated that its position on the participation of the Russian Federation in IIHF tournaments had not changed, but did not want to intervene in the decision about China — while at the same time recruiting players for the women’s university team on social media. iDNES.cz ↗

On Wednesday, the leadership of the Czech Rectors’ Conference, which represents 43 higher-education institutions, spoke out. It called the decision to allow teams made up of Russian athletes to attend the Universiade while the aggression continues deeply unfortunate and pointed out a distinction being lost in the debate: it is one thing when an individual competes under neutral status in an individual event, and another when an entire team is made up of representatives of one state. iDNES.cz ↗

The rectors also acknowledged that they cannot ban students from participating; that power belongs to the university sports association. They are therefore calling for a clear position from the institutions. “Nepovažujeme za správné, aby byla odpovědnost za řešení této situace přenesena na jednotlivé studenty. Není podle nás fér stavět mladé sportovce před rozhodnutí, zda mají do takového utkání nastoupit, či nikoli,” they said. Sports Minister Boris Šťastný of the Motorists movement replied that he had no legal tools to interfere in the rules of international competitions and would consider it appropriate for Russian athletes to compete exclusively under a neutral regime. Since that is precisely how they are to compete in China, he did not give a specific answer when asked directly whether he therefore had no objection to the Czech teams’ participation. iDNES.cz ↗

Another Czech federation made the opposite decision

That the decision was not without an alternative was shown at the end of August by another Czech federation. The Czech American Football Association withdrew the under-15 and under-17 youth selections from the September European flag football championships in Italy — the non-contact Olympic version of American football. The under-17 boys were supposed to defend their bronze from Innsbruck. ČT sport ↗

Association president Radim Kroulík said that the international federation IFAF had not informed member countries in advance about the return of Russian teams and that they had learned of it only from the published list of participants. The Ukrainian federation then sent the federation the conditions under which it would be willing to compete: Russian teams would have to give up their name, flag and anthem, and all members of the delegation would also be screened to determine whether anyone among them had publicly supported the military aggression. The Czechs joined the appeal and announced that they would not travel if the conditions were not met. ČT sport ↗

The Ukrainian federation was therefore asking for two things: neutral symbols and screening of the people in the delegation. FISU’s May announcement refers to neutral conditions but does not specify screening for support of the war. “V současné situaci není možné, aby se naše týmy utkávaly na hřišti s Ruskem (o absurditě zápasů mezi Ukrajinou a Ruskem nemluvě),” Kroulík wrote, adding that the vast majority of clubs shared the same view. He told Deník that he had expected the Olympic Committee to be a moral beacon in this situation, but instead it had eased the sanctions. He offered the Czech and Ukrainian teams a replacement tournament in Czechia. ČT sport ↗ Deník ↗

What it looks like from a player’s perspective

What it means when the decision is left to an individual was shown in August by a case from the American NCAA university league. Louisiana State University signed seventeen-year-old Russian centre Anna Minaeva on 14 August; she had previously played professionally for MBA Moscow, and ten days later coach Kim Mulkey announced that twenty-year-old Ukrainian Kate Koval had left the team. Koval learned of the intention to sign a Russian player back in April, several days after the transfer window had closed. ESPN ↗

She spoke out on 2 September. “My father serves in the Ukrainian military and takes tremendous pride in defending his country against Russian aggression. For me, this war is not distant or abstract. People close to me have been killed and wounded in Russian attacks, and places where I grew up and first began playing basketball have been destroyed by missile strikes,” she wrote in a statement. She described leaving as a difficult decision: she understands and respects that assembling a university basketball roster is part of the process, but she must remain true to herself, her values and her country. ESPN ↗

According to Mulkey’s account, the coach told the player that she and Minaeva could be ambassadors and that one never knows — perhaps they could help end the war. Koval reportedly smiled and replied: “I doubt that.” Since the transfer window had already closed when the signing took place, she will miss the entire 2026/27 season unless the university association grants an exception. CBS Sports ↗

The Slovak position is missing from the media

The Slovak men’s team are the defending silver medallists, and Slovakia has selections in both the men’s and women’s categories on the list for Changchun. After Turin, coach Ivan Feneš recalled the conditions in which the sport operates: “It is not easy to study, play hockey alongside it and play seven matches in eleven days at a tournament like this.” Slovenský zväz ľadového hokeja ↗

In the Slovak media monitored by us as of 9 September, we found no question about whether Slovak students would play against the Russian team, nor any position from the Slovak University Sports Association or the ice hockey federation. Over the past two months, the archive contains just one item on the subject — a republished report from the end of August saying that Russian hockey players were returning to a tournament where they could also face Slovakia. Four months remain until the Universiade begins. Pravda ↗