There will be no World Cup of Hockey in 2024 ©Getty Images

Plans to stage a World Cup of Hockey in February 2024 have been abandoned amid continuing disagreement over Russia's participation because of its invasion of Ukraine.

The National Hockey League (NHL) and NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) announced in a joint statement that holding the event as planned in February 2024 is "not feasible", amid objection from European nations to letting Russian players play.

"Over the last year, the NHL and NHLPA have been working on plans to conduct the next World Cup of Hockey, the premier international best-on-best hockey tournament in February 2024," the statement read. 

"Unfortunately, in the current environment it is not feasible to hold the World Cup of Hockey at that time. 

"We continue to plan for the next World Cup of Hockey, hopefully in February 2025."

The World Cup of Hockey is a showcase for ice hockey in non-Olympic years but it has not been held since 2016, while NHL players have missed the last two Winter Olympics.

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship has been reliably held in the meantime but often overlaps with the NHL playoffs and thus does not include some of the world's top players.

Plans for the the first World Cup of Hockey since 2016 - when Canada won - have been delayed because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine ©Getty Images
Plans for the the first World Cup of Hockey since 2016 - when Canada won - have been delayed because of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine ©Getty Images

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman foreshadowed the decision at the league’s Board of Governors meeting on October 18, saying a deadline was approaching.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly also conceded this month that after talks with European partners, "the Russian issue" is one "we don't have a solution for it as of now".

There is optimism about 2025, however, and extra time could allow for a qualifying tournament to decide who joins the likely main contenders - the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland the Czech Republic - as well as potentially an improvement in relations with Russia.

Russian national teams are banned from all IIHF events over the war in Ukraine, but Russian players continue to play in the NHL.

The IIHF has not been involved in previous editions of the World Cup of Hockey.

The 2016 World Cup closely followed the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The NHL chose to skip the 2018 Winter Olympics but planned to participate in Beijing 2022 before the pandemic caused enough schedule disruption to prevent that happening.