Host Selection
Four nations, all located in Europe placed formal bids to host the 2011 IIHF World Championship. Those nations were:
- Slovakia
- Sweden
- Hungary
- Finland
Finland withdrew from bidding before voting began in order to apply for the 2012 World Championship. Finland and Sweden would both later win respective bids to host in 2012 and 2013, but this decision was later changed instead for the two Nordic countries to be joint hosts of the 2012, and 2013 IIHF World Championship editions.
After one round of voting, the winning bid was announced by IIHF president René Fasel on 19 May 2006, at the delegates congress of the International Ice Hockey Federation in Riga, Latvia. Slovakia's bidding cities received 70 votes, followed by the Swedish bid cities of Stockholm, and Gothenburg with 20 votes, and finally the Hungarian bid with 14 votes. The required 50% of the vote had been attained in the first round, which finalized Slovakia's successful bid.
Ivan Gašparovič, the President of Slovakia, was instrumental in Slovakia winning its successful bid, as he came in person to the delegates congress in Riga to endorse his country's bid, and convince the IIHF delegates of the viability of Slovakia. Gašparovič is himself an avid hockey fan and past vice-president of the Slovak Extraliga team, HC Slovan Bratislava.
Read more about this topic: 2011 IIHF World Championship
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