Together for 2017

Germany and France are ready for action

Next year's World Cup is poised to make history - the hosts also remember a great goalkeeper from the recent past

From Asterix and Obelix to a German ice hockey legend, organizers of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship have assembled an impressive team to promote the event in Cologne and Paris next year.

The popular comic heroes are the official mascots of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, whose passionate will to fight against the seemingly invincible Roman Empire, according to the organizers, should encourage the teams in the ice hockey world that are inferior on paper to overcome the traditional supremacy of the large ice hockey nations.

Because the mascots have a Gallic flair, the official tournament logo pays tribute to one of Germany's outstanding players, goalkeeper Robert Müller.

Franz Reindl, President of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund (DEB e.V.) and president of the 2017 IIHF World Championship Organizing Committee, told reporters in Moscow that choosing the logo was not easy.

“This is a tribute to a player who had to leave us far too soon,” he said. “We agreed on this logo with our colleagues from France and it is a great way for us to both commemorate a player and look forward to the World Cup.”

Müller was a three-time German champion, but remarkably he won his third title with the Adler Mannheim in the 2006/07 season after he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in November 2006. Despite a strenuous course of treatment, he was fit in time to play in the Allstar Game in February 2007 and also regained his place in the national team at the 2008 Skoda Cup. Unfortunately, his illness continued to spread and he was forced to end his career in January 2009. He died in May 2009.

The willingness of the French to dedicate one of the key images of the World Cup to a German goalkeeper is indicative of the close cooperation between the hosts.

“We are two nations, but we are one host,” explained Henner Ziegfeld, general secretary of the organizing committee. “We want to make this clear in our slogan 'Together for 2017'.”

For France, the event represents a chance to benefit from Germany's experience from the 2010 World Cup and do its part in welcoming the best ice hockey nations in the world.

“I would like to thank the IIHF for giving this opportunity to a country like us,” said Luc Tardif, president of the French Ice Hockey Federation (FFHG). “It would be a bit too much for us to welcome the 16 teams alone, but this way we can share in our partner’s experience.”

“I think this represents a step forward for a country like France.”

 

The tournament will take place in the LANXESS arena in Cologne and in the recently renovated one Palais Omnisports Bercy take place in Paris. The two venues hold a total of 886 tickets for the 000 games, a record for an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. With Paris, where the newly renovated arena seats 64 Fans the organizers are providing the largest second venue for a World Cup to date. While the attendance record of 741 spectators at the 690 IIHF World Championships in the Czech Republic could be challenged, organizers say the tournament would break even if 2015 tickets were sold.

Tickets are already available in available packages on the official tournament website www.iihfworlds2017.com for sale. In the first sales phase, venue packages are available for all games per arena (34 in Cologne including the semi-finals and finals, 30 in Paris). There are also separate offers for the two group phases or the final round. The average price per game in the Group Round Package is just €15.

The high-speed train Thalys, official partner of the organizing committee, runs between the two cities within 3:14 hours, so Fans, participants and media can easily travel back and forth between the venues.

The tournament will take place from May 5th to 21st, 2017. The group phase and quarter-finals will be held in both cities, while the final round will be played in Cologne.