A third of the tickets have already been sold out / Tardif: “German organizational talent paired with French Fantasie”
The countdown still showed 205 days when the German-French organizing committee of the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship held its opening press conference on Wednesday in the Cologne Chocolate Museum. And offered a preview of what will happen next year between May 5th and 21st in Cologne and Paris, the two venues for the 2017 IIHF World Championship. Participants were NRW State Secretary Bernd Neuendorf and Cologne's Mayor Henriette Reker DEB- and OC President Franz Reindl, his French counterpart Luc Tardif and the German OC General Secretary Henner Ziegfeld.
Ziegfeld was able to present pleasing figures to the almost 100 media representatives who had gathered on the “Bel Etage” of the museum with a view of the Rhine and the cathedral: Of the total of 886.000 tickets that were purchased for the LANXESS arena in Cologne (capacity: 18.500 visitors) and the AccorHotels Arena in Paris (14.500), a third have already been sold out since day ticket sales started. In Cologne, the German opening game on May 5th (20.15:3000 p.m.) against the USA team is particularly popular, he said. There are only just under XNUMX tickets available. “In Paris,” Ziegfeld continued, “the quarter-finals are going particularly well.” Two quarter-final games will take place in the AccorHotels Arena, the other two in Cologne, where the semi-finals, the game for third place and the final will also take place.
Reindl stressed that the German and French associations had broken new ground with their joint application. "This is the first time that two countries have applied together," he said. In Sweden and Finland, where the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships were held in 2012 and 2013, there were no joint applications; the tournaments were subsequently combined. "I believe we are setting standards for the future," Reindl continued. One country could hardly handle such a tournament on its own with all the growing demands.
Mayor Reker was impressed by how well the German-French cooperation was working. She praised the “dedication and passion” with which the organizers carried out their tasks. Tardif, who was once Reindl's opponent on the ice, is downright enthusiastic about the collaboration. “We understand and complement each other. German organizational talent and a bit of French Fantasie – that’s a good mix.”
The German team plays its preliminary round games in Group A in Cologne, France in Group B in Paris. Should the teams qualify for the last eight, they would play their matches at their respective home venues. Another special feature of the game mode of the 2017 IIHF World Cup: In the unlikely event that the German and French teams meet in the quarterfinals, there would be no crossing between groups; That means: exceptionally, the first place would compete against the fourth in the same group, and the second against the third.