ZURICH – The IIHF received five bids for the 2014 IIHF World Championship prior to the deadline on September 1st. The event will be held in spring 2014, three months after the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

The five candidates who applied to host the 2014 World Championship have until January 2009 to finalize their bids . The host will be selected at the next Annual Congress in May 2009 in Bern, Switzerland.

The Czech Republic and Latvia, have previously hosted a World Championship while Belarus, Hungary and Ukraine never held a (top division) World Championship in their country.

It’s also the first time that three former Soviet republics are applying to host a World Championship for the same year.

The next World Championships are allocated to Switzerland in 2009 (Bern, Zurich-Kloten), Germany in 2010 (Cologne, Mannheim), Slovakia in 2011 (Bratislava, Kosice), Finland (Helsinki, Turku) in 2012, and Sweden (Stockholm, Malmö) in 2013.

Key facts about the bids for 2014:

Belarus (9th in the World Ranking)

After the failed bid for the 2013 Worlds, the Belarus Ice Hockey Association applied again to host the event with the 15,000-seater Minsk Arena as the main venue. It currently under construction and will open its doors next year. It will also be the home of KHL team Dynamo Minsk. Another new arena in Minsk is planned ten kilometres from the main venue in the Chizhovka district.

Czech Republic (5th)

The Czech Ice Hockey Association sent its bid after hosting the 2004 World Championship. The 2014 bid includes the same venues: the 17,360-seater O2 Arena – formerly known as Sazka Arena – and the CEZ Arena in Ostrava with a capacity of 10,000. The O2 Arena was built for the 2004 World Championship and is home to the Champions Hockey League team Slavia Prague. The CEZ Arena, used by Extraliga club Vitkovice, was renovated in 2004. The distance between the cities is 350 kilometres. Prague has hosted most world championships and is applying to get the event for the tenth time.

Hungary (20th)

Hungary applied to host a World Championship for the fourth consecutive time and the chance to host it might have increased after the national team earned a promotion to the top division for the first time in 70 years. The main venue in the bid is the 12,500-seater Laszlo Papp Budapest Sportarena, built in 2003. The second venue is the 7,500-capacity Alba Arena, which is scheduled to open in 2010 in Szekesfehervar, a city of 100,000 inhabitants 60 kilometres from Budapest and known as Hungary’s hockey hotbed.

Latvia (11th)

After hosting the World Championship for the first time in 2006, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation wants to bring the event back to the small hockey-crazy country and its capital Riga. The bid includes the 10,300-seater Arena Riga, which was the main venue two years ago, and a new arena for 8,000 fans which is projected to open in 2011, eight kilometres away from the Arena Riga.

Ukraine (17th)

Ukraine, whose national team was relegated in 2007 and hopes for promotion, is applying for the first time to host a top division World Championship. Both venues are planned in the capital city, Kiev. The main venue would be a 12,000-capacity arena to open in 2012. The second venue, the Central Sport Palace for 5,500 fans, will open next year.