Bandy Clubs Established In 1923
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Bandy is a
winter sport Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...
and
ball sport This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Ball games Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: * Bat-a ...
played by two teams wearing
ice skates Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...
on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is the
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
(FIB). The playing surface, called a
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froz ...
or bandy rink, is a sheet of ice which measures 90–110 meters by 45–65 meters – about the size of a
football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural tu ...
. The field is considerably larger than the
ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
s commonly used for
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
,
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
, or
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
. The goal cage used in bandy is 3.5 m (11 ft) wide and 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) high and is the largest one used by any organized winter team sport. The sport has a common background with
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
(soccer),
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
, and
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
. Bandy's origins are debatable, but its first rules were organized and published in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in 1882. Internationally, bandy's strongest nations in both men's and women's competitions at present are
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
with both countries having established professional men's bandy leagues. In
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
it is estimated that more than one million people play bandy. The sport also has organised league play and dedicated fans in other countries, most notably
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, and
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. The premier international bandy competition for men is the
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
and the premier international bandy competition for women is the
Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...
. In 2001, bandy was recognized as a sport by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC). Both traditional eleven-a-side bandy and
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
(which is played on a smaller rink) are recognized by the IOC. Based on the number of participating athletes, the
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
(FIB) has claimed bandy is the world's second-most participated winter sport after
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
''Bandyportföljen'' magazine, no. 4 20017/18, pp. 12-13 but is unclear how many participants are male and how many are female.


History


Background

The earliest origin of the sport is debated. Though many Russians see their old countrymen as the creators of the sport – reflected by the unofficial title for bandy, "Russian hockey" (русский хоккей) – Russia, England, Wales, and the Netherlands (informally called "Holland") each had sports or pastimes, such as
bando Bando ( my, ဗန်တို, ) is a defensive unarmed martial art from Myanmar. Bando is sometimes mistakenly used as a generic word for all Burmese martial arts, but it is only one martial art; Burmese fighting systems collectively are refe ...
, which can be seen as forerunners of the present sport. The sport's first published set of organized rules were codified in 1882 in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
by
Charles Goodman Tebbutt Charles Goodman Tebbutt (1860–1944) was an English speed skater and bandy player from Bluntisham, England, in the Fens of Cambridgeshire where Fen skating was a popular winter activity in the nineteenth century. He also wrote articles and b ...
of the
Bury Fen Bandy Club Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Bone skates have been found in the area dating back to the medieval period ...
. When the international federation was founded in 1955, it came about after a compromise between Russian and English rules, in which more of the English rules prevailed. Since association football was already popular in England, the codified bandy rules took after much of the football rules. Like association football, games are normally two 45 minute halves and there are 11 players per side. Players sticks are curved like large field hockey sticks and the
bandy ball A bandy ball is a rubber ball used for playing bandy and rink bandy. Bandy balls are manufactured by companies such as Jofa, Kosa, and Reebok. The core of the ball is made of cork and is surrounded by rubber or rubber-like plastic. Balls sho ...
is roughly the size of a tennis ball with a cork core and hard plastic coating. Bandy balls are either orange or more commonly nowadays, cerise. Shouldering is allowed in checking situations and body contact therefore does occur, but body checking and
fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
are illegal. The offside rule in bandy is in general similar to the offside rules used in association football. Goalkeepers use gloves made specifically for their position and wear them on both hands but do not use any type of stick.


Early days

Bandy as an ice skating sport first developed in Britain. English bandy developed as a winter sport in
the Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
of
East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
. Large expanses of ice would form on the flooded meadows or shallow washes in cold winters where
fen skating Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Bone skates have been found in the area dating back to the medieval period. ...
, which has been a tradition dating back to at least medieval times, took place. Bandy's early recorded modernization period can be traced back to 1813. Members of the
Bury Fen Bandy Club Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Bone skates have been found in the area dating back to the medieval period ...
published rules of the game in 1882, and introduced it into other European countries. A variety of stick and ball games involving ice skating were introduced to North America by the 1800s but failed to organize and develop popular rules codes. However these stick and ball games became one of the eventual antecedents of the modern sport of
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
whose first rules were codified in Canada in 1875, almost a decade before the rules of modern bandy were established in Britain. The first international bandy match took place in 1891 between Bury Fen and the Haarlemsche Hockey & Bandy Club from the Netherlands (a club which after a couple of club fusions now is named
HC Bloemendaal Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originally, the club a ...
). The same year, the National Bandy Association was established in England as a governing body for the sport in England. National governing federations for bandy were also founded in the 1890s in the Netherlands and Russia and in the following decade in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. The match later dubbed "the original bandy match", was actually held in 1875 at
The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...
in London. However, at the time, the game was called "hockey on the ice", probably as it was considered an ice variant of
field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
. An early maker of bandysticks was the firm of Gray's, Cambridge. One such stick, now in the collections of the
Museum of Cambridge The Museum of Cambridge, formerly known as the Cambridge & County Folk Museum, is a museum located in Castle Street in central Cambridge, England. It is housed in the former White Horse Inn, a Grade II listed 16th century former public house t ...
, has a length of rope twisted round the handle to rescue any player who might fall through the ice, as the game was played on frozen lakes back then. An 1899 photo of two players demonstrating the game shows the sticks being held single-handed. Historically, bandy was a popular sport in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and in some central and western European countries until the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, and from 1901 to 1926 it was played in the Scandinavian
Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...
, the first international
multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athletes from (mostly) nation-states. The first major, modern, multi-sport event of interna ...
focused on
winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...
.


Etymology

The sport's English name comes from the verb "to bandy", from the
Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from t ...
("to strike back and forth"), and originally referred to a 17th-century Irish game similar to field hockey. The curved stick was also called a "bandy". The etymological connection to the similarly named Welsh hockey game of
bando Bando ( my, ဗန်တို, ) is a defensive unarmed martial art from Myanmar. Bando is sometimes mistakenly used as a generic word for all Burmese martial arts, but it is only one martial art; Burmese fighting systems collectively are refe ...
is not clear. An old name for bandy is ''hockey on the ice''; in the first rule books from England at the turn of the Century 1900, the sport is literally called "bandy or hockey on the ice". Since the early 20th century, the term bandy is usually preferred to prevent confusion with
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
. The sport is known as bandy in many languages though there are a few notable exceptions. In Russian bandy is called "Russian hockey" () or more frequently, and officially, "hockey with a ball" () while ice hockey is called "hockey with a puck" () or more frequently just "hockey". If the context makes it clear that bandy is the subject, it as well can be called just "hockey". In Belarusian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian it is also called "hockey with a ball" (, and respectively). In Slovak "bandy hockey" () is the name. In Armenian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Mongol and Uzbek, bandy is known as "ball hockey" (, , , and respectively). In Finnish the two sports are distinguished as "ice ball" () and "ice puck" (), as well as in Hungarian (), although in Hungarian it is more often called "bandy" nowadays. In Estonian bandy is also called "ice ball" (). In Mandarin Chinese it is "bandy ball" (). In
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
the name is "ice shinty" (). In old times
shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...
or shinney were also sometimes used in English for bandy. Because of its similarities with association football, bandy is also nicknamed "winter football" ( sv, Vinterns fotboll).


Historical relationship with association football and ice hockey


Bandy and association football

With
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
and ''hockey on ice'' or bandy both being popular sports in parts of Europe around 1900, bandy was highly influenced by football and taking after its main rules: having a field approximately the same size, having the same number of players on each team and having the same game time (2×45 minutes). It is natural that bandy got the nickname 'winter football'. It was common for sports clubs to have both a bandy and a football section, with athletes playing both sports but at different times of the year. Some examples are ''Nottingham Forest Football and Bandy Club'' in England (today known just as
Nottingham Forest F.C. Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Trent ...
) and Norwegian
Strømsgodset IF Strømsgodset IF is a Norwegian multi-sports club from Gulskogen in Drammen. It has sections for association football, handball and bandy, but is best known for the top-level football section known as Strømsgodset Toppfotball, which plays in Eli ...
and
Mjøndalen IF Mjøndalen IF is a Norwegian sports club located in Mjøndalen, Viken, Norway. Of the different athletic endeavours that the club supports, it may be best known in Norway for its bandy national championship teams and internationally for its asso ...
, with both having an active bandy section. In Sweden, most football clubs that were active during the first half of the 20th century also played bandy. Swedish player
Orvar Bergmark Orvar Bergmark (16 November 1930 – 10 May 2004) was a Swedish football defender, manager and bandy player. He was the second Swedish national manager ever, and managed to qualify the Swedish national football team for the FIFA World Cup ...
earned silver medals in the world championships of both sports in the 1950s. Later, as the season for each sport increased in time, it was not as easy for the players to engage in both sports, so some clubs came to concentrate on one or the other. Many old clubs still have both sports on their program.


Bandy and ice hockey

As bandy in a way can be seen as a precursor to
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
, bandy has influenced the development and history of ice hockey – mainly in European and former Soviet countries. While modern ice hockey was created in Canada, a variety of games which bore a closer resemblance to bandy were initially played there after British soldiers introduced the game of bandy in the late 19th century. At the same time as modern ice hockey rules were formalized in
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...
(present-day Canada), bandy rules were decided upon in Europe. A cross between English and Russian bandy rules eventually developed with the football-inspired English rules (cf the passage above about bandy and association football) becoming dominant, together with the Russian low-border along most of the two sidelines, an addition to the sport which has maintained its presence since the 1950s. Before Canadians introduced ice hockey into Europe in the early 20th century, "
hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
" was another name for bandy, and still is in parts of Russia and Kazakhstan. Both bandy and ice hockey were played in Europe during the 20th century, especially in Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Ice hockey became more popular than bandy in most of Europe mostly because it had become an Olympic sport, while bandy had not. Athletes in Europe who had played bandy switched to ice hockey in the 1920s to compete in the Olympics. The smaller ice fields needed for ice hockey also made its rinks easier to maintain, especially in countries with short winters. On the other hand, ice hockey was not played in the Soviet Union until the 1950s when the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
wanted to compete internationally. The typical European style of ice hockey, with flowing, less physical play, represents a heritage of bandy.


Modern development


First national bandy league

The first national bandy league in modern history was started in Sweden in 1902.


Bandy in the Nordic Games

Bandy was played at the
Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...
in both
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
and
Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
(present day
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
) in 1901, 1903, 1905, 1909,
1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...
, 1917, 1922, and 1926, and between Swedish, Finnish and Russian teams at similar games in
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
in 1907. Bandy appeared as a sport in all eight editions of the Nordic Games from 1901 to 1926.


European Bandy Championships

The
1913 European Bandy Championships 1913 European Bandy Championships was the first, and so far the only, European Championship tournament in bandy. The competition was held in February 1913 in Saint-Moritz, Switzerland. Background Modern bandy originated in England and the first ...
was the first (and to date, the only) European Championship tournament in bandy. It was held in February 1913, in
St. Moritz, Switzerland St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...
with eight countries participating, but none from the Nordic countries. While Germany competed, Sweden and Russia did not, with both countries competing in the
1913 Nordic Games The 1913 Nordic Games was the fifth Nordic Games and was held in Stockholm in February 1913. It was formally international sports competitions in many disciplines, but because of the communications of the time it was still mostly domestic sportspeo ...
instead. In 2014, the Four Nation Bandy tournament was held in
Davos, Switzerland , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Reg ...
, as a centenary celebration of the 1913 European Bandy Championships.


Highest altitude

The highest altitude where bandy has been played is in
Khorugh Khorugh ( tg, Хоруғ, ; russian: Хорог, translit=Khorog; ) is the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in Tajikistan. It is also the capital of the Shughnon District of Gorno-Badakhshan. It has a population of 30,50 ...
, the capital of the
Tajik Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Tajikistan * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik (surname) * Tajik cu ...
autonomous province of
Gorno-Badakhshan Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,, abbr. / is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two perce ...
. Khorugh is situated 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) above sea level in the Pamir Mountains.


World Championships and Russian performance

Since the 1950s, when the Soviet Union ended its isolation and started to take part in international sports events, there has been reason to play world championships. The International Bandy Federation was founded in 1955 and the first world championships were played in 1957 with the Soviet Union and then Russia (as its successor country in 1991) consistently in a top position in the sport of bandy alongside Sweden. In a similar fashion, Russia, along with Sweden, has emerged as one of the two dominant women's bandy nations internationally in the
Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...
.


Women's bandy

Women's bandy uses the exact same rules as men, but the women's game is played separately. Women have been playing bandy since the sport was originally developed. Although there were several attempts in the early part of the 19th century to organise bandy leagues for women's teams, regular leagues only started in the 1970s in Sweden and Finland and then later in the 1980s in Norway and the Soviet Union.


Bandy moving indoors

Starting in the 1980s and increasingly since the turn of the millennium, more and more indoor arenas for bandy have been built (often as joint arenas to be used also for football or speed skating). The use of indoor arenas makes the effects of the weather on a game virtually insignificant, something which earlier always have been a factor to consider for the teams and the audiences. However, unlike some other sports, bandy is still the same game with the same rules indoors or outdoors and no changes are made to the rules depending on whether there's a roof overhead or not. Many games, even in the highest leagues, are still played outdoors.


Overview

Bandy is played on ice, using a single round
bandy ball A bandy ball is a rubber ball used for playing bandy and rink bandy. Bandy balls are manufactured by companies such as Jofa, Kosa, and Reebok. The core of the ball is made of cork and is surrounded by rubber or rubber-like plastic. Balls sho ...
. Two teams of 11 players each compete to get the ball into the other team's goal using bandy sticks, thereby scoring a goal. The team that has scored more goals at the end of the game is the winner. If both teams have scored an equal number of goals, then, with some exceptions, the game is a
draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...
. The game is designed to be played on a rectangular sheet of ice, called a
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froz ...
, which is the same size as a football (soccer) field. In a typical game, players attempt to propel the ball toward their opponents' goal through individual control of the ball, such as by
dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...
, passing the ball to a teammate, and taking shots at the goal, which is guarded by the opposing goalkeeper. Opposing players may try to regain control of the ball by intercepting a pass or
tackling Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking up ...
the opponent who controls the ball. However, physical contact between opponents is limited. Bandy is generally a free-flowing game, with play stopping only when the ball has left the field of play, or when play is stopped by the
referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
. After a stoppage, play can recommence with a free stroke, a penalty shot or a corner stroke. If the ball has left the field along the sidelines, the referee must decide which team touched the ball last, and award a restart stroke to the opposing team, just like football's throw-in. In terms of rules, bandy has several rules that are similar to football. Each team has 11 players, one of whom is a
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
. The offside rule, which in general is similar to the one used in football, is also employed. A goal cannot be scored from a goal throw, but unlike football, a goal can be scored from a stroke-in or a corner stroke. All free strokes are "direct" and allow a goal to be scored without another player touching the ball. A primary rule is that players (other than the goalkeepers) may not intentionally touch the ball with their heads, hands or arms during play. Although players usually use their sticks to move the ball around, they may use any part of their bodies other than their heads, hands or arms and may use their skates in a limited manner. The rules do not specify any player positions other than goalkeeper, but a number of player specialisations have evolved. Broadly, these include three main categories: * forwards, whose main task is to score goals * defenders, who specialise in preventing their opponents from scoring * midfielders, who take the ball from the opposition and pass it to the forwards. Players in these positions are referred to as outfield players, to discern them from the single goalkeeper. These positions are further differentiated by which side of the field the player spends most time in. For example, there are central defenders, and left and right midfielders. The ten outfield players may be arranged in these positions in any combination (for example, there may be three defenders, five midfielders, and two forwards), and the number of players in each position determines the style of the team's play; more forwards and fewer defenders would create a more aggressive and offensive-minded game, while the reverse would create a slower, more defensive style of play. While players may spend most of the game in a specific position, there are few restrictions on player movement, and players can switch positions at any time. The layout of the players on the pitch is called the team's
formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
, and defining the team's formation and tactics is usually the prerogative of the team's manager(s). Formation in bandy is often comparable to the formation in association football.


Rules

There are eighteen rules in official play, designed to apply to all levels of bandy, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, veterans or women are permitted. The rules are often framed in broad terms, which allow flexibility in their application depending on the nature of the game. A game is officiated by a referee, the authority and enforcer of the rules, whose decisions are final. The referee may have one or two assistant referees. A secretary outside of the field often takes care of the match protocol. The
Bandy Playing Rules Bandy Playing Rules is the name of the rule book for bandy, edited by the Federation of International Bandy. The rule book is available online. The current book was adopted in September 2013. The rule book and the rules are overseen by the Rules a ...
can be found on the official website of the
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
, and are overseen by the
Rules and Referee Committee Rules and Referee Committee (RRC) is the group responsible for upholding and interpretation of the Bandy Playing Rules. The committee is a part of the Federation of International Bandy but is working independently. The committee is headed by a cha ...
.


Players

Each team consists of a maximum of 11 players (excluding substitutes), one of whom must be the goalkeeper. A team of fewer than eight players may not start a game. Goalkeepers are the only players allowed to play the ball with their hands or arms, and they are only allowed to do so within the penalty area in front of their own goal.Ninh.co.uk: "The Rules of Bandy - EXPLAINED!"
retrieved 14 October 2017
Though there are a variety of positions in which the outfield (non-goalkeeper) players are strategically placed by a coach, these positions are not defined or required by the rules of the game. The positions and formations of the players in bandy are virtually the same as the common
association football positions In the sport of association football, each of the 11 players on a team is assigned to a particular position on the field of play. A team is made up of one goalkeeper and ten outfield players who fill various defensive, midfield, and attacking posi ...
and the same terms are used for the different positions of the players. A team usually consists of defenders, midfielders and forwards. The defenders can play in the form of centre-backs, full-backs and sometimes wing-backs, midfielders playing in the centre, attacking or defensive, and forwards in the form of centre forward, second strikers and sometimes a winger. Sometimes one player is also taking up the role of a libero. Any number of players may be replaced by substitutes during the course of the game. Substitutions can be performed without notifying the referee and can be performed while the ball is in play. However, the substitute must leave the ice before the teammate enters it. A team can bring at the most four substitutes to the game, five if one of these is an extra goalkeeper.


Formation

Formation in bandy describes how the players in a team generally position themselves on the
rink Rink may refer to: * Ice rink, a surface of ice used for ice skating ** Figure skating rink, an ice rink designed for figure skating ** Ice hockey rink, an ice rink designed for ice hockey ** Speed skating rink, an ice rink designed for speed ska ...
and is often comparable to the formation in association football. The team's manager(s) define the team's formation while tactics are usually their prerogative as well. Bandy is a fluid and fast-moving game, and (with the exception of the
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
) a player's position in a formation does not define their role as rigidly as for, for instance, a
rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
player, nor are there episodes in play where players must expressly line up in formation (as in
gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...
). The bandy games are more similar to
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in this regard. Nevertheless, a player's position in a formation generally defines whether a player has a mostly defensive or attacking role, and whether they tend to play towards one side of the pitch or centrally.


Duration and tie-breaking measures

A standard adult bandy match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. Each half runs continuously, meaning the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play; the referee can, however, make allowance for time lost through significant stoppages as described below. There is usually a 15-minute
half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...
break. The end of the match is known as full-time. The referee is the official timekeeper for the match and may make an allowance for time lost through substitutions, injured players requiring attention, or other stoppages. This added time is commonly referred to as ''stoppage time'' or ''injury-time'', and must be reported to the match secretary and the two captains. The referee alone signals the end of the match. If it is very cold or if it is snowing, the match can be broken into thirds of 30 minutes each. At the extremely cold 1999 World Championship some matches were played in four periods of 15 minutes each and with extra long breaks in between. In the World Championships the two halves can be 30 minutes each for the nations in the B division. In league competitions, games may end in a draw, but in some knockout competitions if a game is tied at the end of regulation time it may go into extra time, which usually consists of two further 10-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, the game will be decided on penalties. The teams shoot five penalties each and if this doesn't settle the game, the teams shoot one more penalty each until one of them misses and the other scores.


Ball in and out of play

Under the rules, the two basic states of play during a game are ''ball in play'' and ''ball out of play''. From the beginning of each
playing period Playing period is a division of time in a sports or games, in which play occurs. Many games are divided into a fixed number of periods, which may be named for the number of divisions. Other games use terminology independent of the total number of ...
with a stroke-off (a set strike from the centre-spot by one team) until the end of the playing period, the ball is in play at all times, except when either the ball leaves the field of play, or play is stopped by the referee. When the ball becomes out of play, play is restarted by one of six restart methods depending on how it went out of play: * Stroke-off * Goal-throw * Corner stroke * Free-stroke *
Penalty shot A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
*
Face-off A face-off is the method used to begin and restart play after goals in some sports using sticks, primarily ice hockey, bandy, floorball, broomball, rinkball, and lacrosse. During a face-off, two teams line up in opposition to each other, and the ...
If the time runs out while a team is preparing for a free-stroke or penalty, the strike should still be made but it must go into the goal by one shot to count as a goal. Similarly, a goal made via a corner stroke should be allowed, but it must be executed using only one shot in addition to the strike needed to put the ball in play.


Free-strokes and penalty shots

Free-strokes can be awarded to a team if a player of the opposite team breaks any rule, for example, by hitting with the stick against the opponent's stick or skates. Free-strokes can also be awarded upon incorrect execution of corner-strikes, free-strikes, goal-throws, and so on. or the use of incorrect equipment, such as a broken stick. Rather than stopping play, the
referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...
may allow play to continue when its continuation will benefit the team against which an offence has been committed. This is known as "playing an advantage". The referee may "call back" play and penalise the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue within a short period of time, typically taken to be four to five seconds. Even if an offence is not penalised because the referee plays an advantage, the offender may still be sanctioned (see below) for any associated misconduct at the next stoppage of play. If a defender violently attacks an opponent within the penalty area, a penalty shot is awarded. Certain other offences, when carried out within the penalty area, resulting in a penalty shot provided there is a goal situation. These include a defender holding or hooking an attacker, or blocking a goal situation with a lifted skate, thrown stick or glove and so on. Also, the defenders (with the exception of the goal-keeper) are not allowed to kneel or lie on the ice. The final offences that might mandate a penalty shot are those of hitting or blocking an opponent's stick or touching the ball with the hands, arms, stick or head. A 10-minute penalty or a red card may be issued to the offending player as well.


Warnings and penalties

A ten-minute penalty is indicated through the use of a blue card and can be caused by protesting or behaving incorrectly, attacking an opponent violently or stopping the ball incorrectly to get an advantage. The third time a player receives a time penalty, it will be a personal penalty, meaning he or she will miss the remainder of the match. A substitute can enter the field after five or ten minutes, depending on the type of time penalty received. A full game penalty can be received upon using abusive language or directly attacking an opponent and means that the player can neither play nor be substituted for the remainder of the game. A
match penalty Match penalty is a term used in some sports for a player having committed such a serious offense that he or she is being sent off for the rest of the game. The term is used in bandy, floorball, and ice hockey. Bandy In bandy, it is indicated wit ...
is indicated through the use of a red card.


Offside

The offside rule effectively limits the ability to attack players to remain forward (i.e. closer to the opponent's goal-line) of the ball, the second-to-last defending player (which can include the goalkeeper), and the half-way line. This rule is in general similar to that of soccer.


Equipment

The basic equipment players are required to wear includes a pair of bandy skates, a
helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protect ...
, a mouthguard and, in the case of the goalkeeper, a faceguard. The teams must wear uniforms that make it easy to distinguish the two teams. The goalkeeper wears distinct colours to single him out from his or her teammates, just as in football. The ice skates, sticks and any tape on the stick must be of another colour than the
bandy ball A bandy ball is a rubber ball used for playing bandy and rink bandy. Bandy balls are manufactured by companies such as Jofa, Kosa, and Reebok. The core of the ball is made of cork and is surrounded by rubber or rubber-like plastic. Balls sho ...
, which is orange or cerise. In addition to the aforementioned, various protections are used to protect knees, elbows, genitals and throat. The pants and gloves may contain padding.


Bandy stick

The stick used in bandy is an essential part of the sport. It should be made of an approved material such as wood or a similar material and should not contain any metal or sharp parts which can hurt the surrounding players. Sticks are crooked and are available in five angles, where 1 has the smallest bend and 5 has the most. Bend 4 is the most common size in professional bandy. The bandy stick should not have similar colours to the
ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
, such as orange or pink; it should be no longer than , and no wider than .


Bandy field

A
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froz ...
is by , a total of , or about the same size as a
football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural tu ...
and considerably larger than an
ice hockey rink An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and s ...
. Along the sidelines a high border (vant, sarg, wand, wall) is placed to prevent the ball from leaving the ice. It should not be attached to the ice, to glide upon collisions, and should end away from the corners. Centered at each shortline is a wide and high goal cage and in front of the cage is a half-circular penalty area with a radius. A penalty spot is located in front of the goal and there are two free-stroke spots at the penalty area line, each surrounded by a circle. A centre spot with a circle of radius denotes the center of the field. A centre-line is drawn through the centre spot parallel with the shortlines. At each of the corners, a radius quarter-circle is drawn, and a dotted line is painted parallel to the shortline and away from it without extending into the penalty area. The dotted line can be replaced with a long line starting at the edge of the penalty area and extending towards the sideline, from the shortline.


Protective equipment

Bandy players require protective equipment, some of which is designed specifically for the sport such as the bandy chinguard. Equipment is similar to that worn in
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
but is typically smaller, lighter, and more flexible, and more closely resembles the equipment worn in the modern sport of
ringette Ringette is a contact sport, non-contact winter team sport played on ice hockey rinks using Ice skates#Ice hockey skates, ice hockey skates, straight sticks with drag-tips, and a #Equipment, blue, rubber, pneumatic ring designed for use on ice ...
. All players are required to wear helmets. While some bandy players are required to wear facemasks such a young players, some outfield players only wear a helmet with a bandy chin guard. Goaltenders are the exception and must wear a helmet and facemask at all times.


International


International games in the early years

The first international games were played by club teams in the 1890s. Starting in the first decade of the 20th Century,
friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
were played between national teams of some European countries. While games like this did not take place in central and western Europe after the 1910s, the Nordic countries of Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden continued, doing it more regularly during the 1920s and 1930s with annually or semi-annually recurring friendlies between some of them. Sweden tried to arrange friendlies with the Soviet Union in the 1940s, but it did not come to be until the 1950s.


Nordic Games

Bandy was played as one of the sports at the
Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...
, international winter sports events held during the first few decades of the 20th Century.


International federation

The
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
(FIB) has had 33 members at most, each representing a country where bandy is played. Currently, there are 27 members of the federation. Formed in 1955, the name was changed from ''International Bandy Federation'' in 2001 after the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
approved it as a so-called " recognized sport". The abbreviation "IBF" was at the time already used by another recognized sports federation, and IOC considers it important that the official abbreviations of sports federations are unique, so that the federations are not mistaken for one another. In 2004, FIB was fully accepted by IOC. FIB is now a member of
Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations The Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation constituted through and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ARISF's members are international sports ...
.


World Championships


Men

The
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
for men is arranged by the FIB and was first held in 1957. It was held every two years starting in 1961, and every year since 2003. Currently, the record number of countries participating in the World Championships is twenty (2019). Since the number of countries playing bandy is not large, every country which can set up a team is welcome to take part in the World Championship. The quality of the teams varies; however, with only six nations, Sweden,
the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, Russia, Finland, Norway, and
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
, having won medals (allowing for the fact that Russia's team took over from the Soviet Union in
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
). Finland won the 2004 world championship in
Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...
, Sweden, while all other championships have been won by Sweden, the Soviet Union and Russia. The Soviet Union won all championships until 1981, when Sweden managed to break the streak of eleven straight gold medals. Sweden won again in the next tournament in 1983, but Soviet again seized the victory in 1985. The Soviet Union also won at its last two appearances, and then Sweden won in 1993, 1995 and 1997. Russia, having taken over after the Soviet Union, and Sweden have kept on winning all championships between them except for 2004, when Finland managed to claim the win. In 2020, the B division of the World Championship was played, but the A division – which was to be played about a month later – was first postponed a couple of times due to the outbreak of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and later moved to the next year as the pandemic did not end. The championship tournament could however not be played in 2021 either. In 2022, the championship was finally to be held, but since it was scheduled to be played in Russia, many national federations said they did not want to participate because of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
and it was cancelled by the FIB since this meant there would have been too few competing teams.


Women

The first World Championship for women took place in February 2004 in
Lappeenranta, Finland Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...
.
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
won the championship without conceding a goal. In the 2014 women's World Championship Russia won for the first time, defeating Sweden, making it the first time Sweden did not win the world title. In 2016 Sweden took the title back. The 2018 women's tournament was played in a country situated completely in Asia for the first time, when in was hosted in
Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by t ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It was the same for the men's tournament that same year (the area north and west of the
Ural River The Ural (russian: Урал, ), known before 1775 as Yaik (russian: Яик, ba, Яйыҡ, translit=Yayıq, ; kk, Жайық, translit=Jaiyq, ), is a river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan in the continental border between Europe and Asia ...
is located in Europe, thus Kazakhstan, which had hosted a world championship before, is a
transcontinental country This is a list of countries with territory that straddles more than one continent, known as transcontinental states or intercontinental states. Contiguous transcontinental countries are states that have one continuous or immediately-adjacent ...
), when
Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...
hosted the 2018 Division B tournament. The 2020 championship saw China withdraw its participation due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, but the tournament was held in Norway in February and the pandemic had not yet reached Europe. In
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
when the championship was played in Sweden, China did not yet return, while Russia and Ukraine both withdrew because of the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.


Youth

There are also
Youth Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship for youth teams is a group of sports tournaments held for bandy athletes competing for their junior national teams. There are four different age classes for boys and young men and one age class for girls. The tourna ...
s in different age groups for boys and young men and in one age group for girls. The oldest group is the under 23 championship,
Bandy World Championship Y-23 The Bandy World Championship Y-21 is a Youth Bandy World Championship up to the age of 21 years. Usually, only the core bandy playing nations take part. The designation is sometimes given as U-21 instead of Y-23 or U-23, probably as a way to co ...
.


Olympic Movement

Bandy was officially recognized by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) under the
Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations The Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation constituted through and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ARISF's members are international sports ...
(ARISF) in 2004, and was played as a
demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...
at the
1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 195 ...
in
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
. However, it has yet to officially be played at the
Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
. According to the FIB, bandy is the world's second-most participated winter sport after
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
based on the number of participating athletes. It is unclear how many of the players participate in the male category and how many in the female category. The FIB has also recorded bandy (men's) as having ranked as the number two winter sport in terms of tickets sold per day of competitions at the sport's world championship. However, compared with the seven
Winter Olympic sports Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing bod ...
, bandy's popularity among other winter sports across the globe is considered by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
to have a, "gap between popularity and participation and global audiences", which is a roadblock to future Olympic inclusion. The FIB has also stated that the sport ranks as the number two winter sport in terms of tickets sold per day of competitions at the men's world bandy championship. However, compared with the seven
Winter Olympic sports Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing bod ...
, bandy's popularity among other winter sports across the globe is considered by the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
to have a "gap between popularity and participation and global audiences", which is a roadblock to future Olympic inclusion. In addition, the
Olympic Charter The Olympic Charter is a set of rules and guidelines for the organisation of the Olympic Games, and for governing the Olympic movement. Its last revision was on the 17th of July 2020 during the 136th IOC Session, held by video conference. Adop ...
requires a sport to be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents, and by women in no fewer than 40 countries and on three continents in order to be accepted. FIB president Boris Skrynnik lobbied for Bandy to be included in the
2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...
in Sochi, given Russia's prominence in the sport. Members of the
Chinese Olympic Committee The Chinese Olympic Committee (; IOC code: CHN) has been the officially designated body of the People's Republic of China (PRC) regarding the Olympic Games and other affiliated international sport federations since 1979, when the Nagoya Resolu ...
were present at the 2017 world championships to meet with Skrynnik about the possibility of considering the sport for the
2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
in Beijing. However, in 2018 it was announced no new sports would be added for 2022.


Asian Winter Games

At the
2011 Asian Winter Games The 2011 Asian Winter Games ( kz, 2011 жылғы қысқы Азия ойындары, 2011 jılğı qısqı Azïya oyındarı) was a multi-sport event that was held in Nur-Sultan, Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, that began on January 30, 2011, an ...
, open to members of the
Olympic Council of Asia The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is a governing body of sports in Asia, currently with 45 member National Olympic Committees. The current Acting President is Raja Randhir Singh, substituting Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah. The headquarter ...
, men's bandy was included for the first time. Three teams contested the inaugural competition, and Kazakhstan won the gold medal. The
President of Kazakhstan The president of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасының Президенті, Qazaqstan Respublikasynyñ Prezidentı; russian: Президент Республики Казахстан, Prezident Respu ...
,
Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...
, attended the final. There was no bandy competition at the next Games, the
2017 Asian Winter Games The 2017 Asian Winter Games ( ja, 2017アジア冬季競技大会, 2017 Ajia tōkikyōgitaikai) was the 8th edition of the Asian Winter Games. They were hosted in Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido, Japan. These Games were originally scheduled for 2 ...
held in Japan.


Winter Universiade/Winter World University Games

Bandy made its debut at the Winter Universiade during the 2019 Games in Krasonyarsk, Russia. Originally a six-team tournament for men and a four-team tournament for women were planned to be held. However, later China withdrew from the men's tournament and was supposed to be replaced by Belarus. Since that did not happen either, participating teams among women were Russia, Sweden, Norway and the United States, while among men Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Kazakhstan. In 2019, the
International University Sports Federation The Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU, en, International University Sports Federation) is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. ...
expected bandy to be a part of the 2023 Winter World University Games (Winter World University Games being the new name of the Winter Universiade) too, however, this does not seem to be so, as the hosts in Lake Placid, USA, has not included it in its preliminary schedules.


World Cup

The World Championships should not be confused with the annual Bandy World Cup competitions. The World Cup is for club teams.


Men

The
Bandy World Cup The Bandy World Cup is an international bandy competition played in Sweden at the beginning of the bandy season every year, in autumn. The participating teams qualify based on their results in the previous bandy season. The World Cup is not playe ...
for men in
Ljusdal Ljusdal () is a locality and the seat of Ljusdal Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 6,230 inhabitants in 2010. Ljusdal is situated on Riksväg 83 which runs between Tönnebro in Söderhamn Municipality in Gävleborg County and ...
, Sweden, has been played annually since the 1970s and is the biggest bandy tournament for elite-level club teams. It is played indoors in
Sandviken Sandviken is a locality and the seat of Sandviken Municipality in Gävleborg County, Sweden with 39,234 inhabitants in 2019. It is situated about 25 km west of Gävle and lies approximately 190 km north of Stockholm. The rail journey t ...
since 2009 because Ljusdal has no indoor arena. It is expected to return to Ljusdal once an indoor arena has been built. World Cup matches are played day and night, and the tournament is played in four days in late October. The teams participating are mostly, and some years exclusively, from Sweden and Russia, which has the two best leagues in the world. The
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
led to the Cup being cancelled in 2020 and 2021.


Women

There is also a club competition for women's bandy teams called
Bandy World Cup Women Bandy World Cup Women is an annual bandy competition for the best women's club teams from around the world hosted in Sweden. It was named to correspond to the Bandy World Cup for men's club teams. Participation In 2015, Canada sent a Winnipeg- ...
. Its inaugural year was in 2007.


European Cup

The
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
was first played in 1974 and was a competition featuring the national men's champion team from any European country which had a national bandy championship. This meant, at the time, that only four teams competed every year, which were the men's champions from Finland, Norway, the Soviet Union, and Sweden. After the Soviet Union had been dissolved in 1991, the Russian champions took part instead. The cup is not formally defunct, but the last installment was played in 2009.


4 Nations Tournament

The
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
usually arranges a four nations tournament every year between national teams from Norway, Finland, Russia, and Sweden. The 2022 tournament was originally set for January 21–23, but was cancelled after the
Swedish Bandy Association The Swedish Bandy Association ( sv, Svenska Bandyförbundet) is the governing body of bandy in Sweden. It organizes the bandy leagues, Elitserien and Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women, and the men's and women's national teams. It w ...
announced they would not be hosting it for that season.


Rossiya Tournament (Russian Government Cup)

During the period 1972–1990, the
Rossiya Tournament Rossiya or Rossija (the Romanization of the word ) may refer to: * Russia (Russian: ) * ''Rossiya'' (icebreaker), Russian icebreakers named ''Rossiya'' * ''Rossiya'' or ''Rossia'', an Imperial Russian cruiser launched in 1896 * ''Rossiya'', an Im ...
was held semi-annually for national teams in the years when there was no world championship. This tournament was always played in the Soviet Union and arranged by the newspaper ''
Sovetskaya Rossiya ''Sovetskaya Rossiya'' (russian: Советская Россия, ''Soviet Russia'') is a political newspaper in Russia. It kept its name after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and presently presents itself as a leftist ind ...
''. It was affectionately called "the small world championship". From 1992 the tournament was renamed
Russian Government Cup Russian Government Cup was a tournament for national teams in bandy, arranged in Russia every other year from 1972 until 2012. The cup has not been played since 2012. When the Bandy World Championships were held every other year, this tournament w ...
. The last instalment was played in 2012.


Overview of international competitions

There are several existing international bandy competitions with events varying based upon age, competitive level, and sex.


Senior


Junior


Variants of bandy and sports developed from bandy


7-a-side bandy

Varieties of bandy exist, utilising the same rules only with slight differences, like seven-a-side bandy with regulation sized goal cages but without corner strokes and often on a smaller sized rink. Seven-a-side bandy was popular in central Europe and in England in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, while eleven-a-side bandy was preferred in the Nordic countries and in Russia. Seven-a-side bandy rules were applied at the
1913 European Bandy Championships 1913 European Bandy Championships was the first, and so far the only, European Championship tournament in bandy. The competition was held in February 1913 in Saint-Moritz, Switzerland. Background Modern bandy originated in England and the first ...
and at the
Davos Cup The Davos Cup was a bandy tournament held in 2016 for national teams from continental Europe. History In January 2016 the Federation of International Bandy together with the Federation of Swiss Bandy arranged a tournament in Davos. Due to recent ...
in 2016.


Rink bandy

Rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
is a bandy variant played on an ice hockey-size rink. It was originally conceived as a way of practicing bandy in the summertime, when there were no bandy sized indoor rinks but ice hockey rinks had started to be built indoors. Rink bandy is played by basically the same rules as regular bandy but on a playing surface the size of an
ice hockey rink An ice hockey rink is an ice rink that is specifically designed for ice hockey, a competitive team sport. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as broomball, ringette, rinkball, and rink bandy. It is a rectangle with rounded corners and s ...
with ice hockey goal cages and six players on each team (or five in the case of the
USA Rink Bandy League Bandy in the United States is played mostly in Minnesota. Bandy is a team sport played on ice. The United States national bandy team has taken part in the Bandy World Championships since the 1985 tournament. It also plays friendlies against Ca ...
). There have been international competitions for rink bandy played by the best bandy players in the 1980s and 1990s, both for club teams and for national teams, there were world championships in rink bandy in those days and the
Hofors World Cup Hofors () is a locality and the seat of Hofors Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 6,681 inhabitants in 2010. Districts *Born *Böle *Bönhusberget *Centrum *Göklund *Hammaren *Lillån *Muntebo *Rönningen *Silverd ...
for clubs was played annually from 1984 to 1998. When more indoor bandy rinks have been built, rink bandy has more become a sport for lower league teams a d recreational play. Rink bandy was played in the 2012 European Company Sports Games program. Some member nations of the Federation of International Bandy – which is the international governing body for rink bandy as well as bandy – do not have regulation sized bandy surfaces which are larger than the more common ice hockey
ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...
and therefore only play rink bandy at home; this includes most of the World Championships Group B participants.


Rinkball

Rink bandy has in turn led to the creation of the sport of
rinkball Rinkball is a winter team sport played on ice with ice skates and is most popular in Finland, where it is known as ''kaukalopallo''. This ball sport originated in Sweden in the 1960s and from there landed in Finland in the 1970s. The objective ...
. The sport of rinkball has at times been referred to as a variant of bandy, however it organized by the 1980s and has since become an established organized sport with its own governing body and differs considerably from both bandy and
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
, the sport's two major influences.


Floorball

Bandy is also the predecessor of
floorball Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...
, which was invented when people started playing with plastic bandy shaped sticks and lightweight balls when running on the floors of indoor gym halls.⁣


Landbandy

In Sweden, informal games played like bandy but on ice-free ground (usually on gravel or asphalt concrete) are called ''landbandy'' (see landbandy at the Swedish language Wikipedia).


No roller or parasport variants exist

There is no formal
roller sport Roller sports are sports that use human powered vehicles which use rolling either by gravity or various pushing techniques. Typically ball bearings and polyurethane wheels are used for momentum and traction respectively, and attached to devices or ...
companion to bandy involving either
inline skates Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...
or parallel wheel
roller skates Roller skates, are shoes or bindings that fit onto shoes that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad ska ...
, even if
rink hockey Roller hockey (in British English), rink hockey (in American English) or quad hockey is a team sport played on roller skates. It is the only quad skate team sport in existence where two teams face-off against one another at the same time. Two t ...
can be considered to have some similarities with bandy. There is also no formally organized skateless ice variant of bandy, and bandy does not have any parasport variant.


Countries


China

The
China Bandy Federation China Bandy Federation, ''CBF'', was founded on 13 December 2014. The Chinese Ice Hockey Association joined the Federation of International Bandy (FIB) in 2010 and governed bandy in China until it was replaced by the CBF. The federation was foun ...
was set up in 2014. Since them, China has since participated in a number of world championship tournaments, with men's, women's and youth teams. China Bandy is mainly financed by private resources. The development of the sport in China is supported by the
Harbin Sport University Harbin Sport University () is a university in Harbin, China, working with research on health and sports. In 2015, the announcement of a new Olympic winter sports center was made, to be set up at Harbin Sport University. The Harbin Sport Universit ...
.


Czechia

A team from Prague became Austrian national bandy champions in 1911. Czechia has been playing in the
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
since
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
.


Estonia

Bandy as an organized sport was played in Estonia in the 1910s to 1930s and the country had a
national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
for some years. The
national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...
played friendlies against Finland in the 1920s and 1930s. The sport was played sporadically during the Soviet occupation 1944–1991. It has since then become more organised again, partly through exchange with Finnish clubs and enthusiasts. As of 2018, Estonia takes part in both the
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
for men, and the
Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...
.


Finland

Bandy as an organized sport was introduced to Finland from Russia in the 1890s. Finland has been playing bandy friendlies against Sweden and Estonia since its independence in 1917. The first men's Finnish national championships were held in 1908 and was the first national Finnish championship held in any team sport. National champions have been named every year except for three years in the first half of the 20th century when Finland was at war. The top national league is called
Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991–92 season. Bandyl ...
and is semi-professional. The best players often go fully professional by being recruited by clubs in Sweden or Russia. Finland was an original member of the Federation of International Bandy and is the only country besides Russia/Soviet Union and Sweden to have won a Bandy World Championship, which it did in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. In
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, the highest bandy league for men is the
Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991–92 season. Bandyl ...
. The
Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991–92 season. Bandyl ...
is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. As of the 2020–21 season, Bandyliiga consisted of the following teams: Akilles, Botnia-69,
HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...
, JPS, Kampparit,
Narukerä Narukerä are a Finnish bandy club from Pori. Narukerä finished in 3rd position in the Bandyliiga in the 2005-2006 season and also competed in the Bandy World Cup The Bandy World Cup is an international bandy competition played in Sweden a ...
, OLS,
Veiterä Veiterä is a Finnish bandy club based in Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on ...
, and
WP 35 Warkauden Pallo -35 (WP 35) is a sports club in Varkaus in Finland, founded in 1935. The club is most well known for its successful men's team in bandy, which is playing in the Bandyliiga, the top-tier of Finnish bandy. Bandy titles

* List of ...
. The
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
(FIB) is planning for a major premiere for indoor bandy in Finland in 2023 with the venue taking place at an indoor arena in
Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...
. When the arena is ready, an international inauguration is to take place with a 4-nation bandy tournament. Participants will include teams from Russia, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The tournament is scheduled for January 20–22, 2023.


Germany

Bandy was played in Germany in the early 20th century, including by
Crown Prince Wilhelm Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the eldest child of the last ''Kaiser'', the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schles ...
, but the interest died out in favour of ice hockey. The Leipziger Sportclub, which arguably had the best team, was also the last club to give bandy up. The sport was reintroduced to Germany in the 2010s, with the
German Bandy Federation German Bandy Federation (German: ''Deutscher Bandy-Bund'') is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Germany. German Bandy Association was founded and became member of the Federation of International Bandy in 2013. An earlier German bandy f ...
being founded in 2013. Germany has been participating in the
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
, a competition for male competitors, since
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
.


Kazakhstan

Bandy has a long history in many parts of
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
and it used to be one of the most popular sports in Soviet times. However, after independence it suffered a rapid decline in popularity and only remained in
Oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or oral ...
(often called by the Russian name, "Uralsk"), where the country's only professional club Akzhaiyk is located. They presently compete in the Russian second tier division, the
Russian Bandy Supreme League Russian Bandy Supreme League (russian: Первенство России среди команд Высшей лиги) is the second tier of Russian bandy, below Russian Bandy Super League. In the 2016–17 season, 23 teams competed in three gro ...
. Recently bandy has started to gain popularity again outside of Oral, most notably in
Petropavl Petropavl ( kk, Петропавл, Petropavl ) or Petropavlovsk () is a city on the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan close to the border with Russia. It is the capital of the North Kazakhstan Region. Population: 218,956. The city is also kno ...
and
Khromtau Khromtau ( kk, Хромтау, ''Hromtau'') is a town in Aktobe Region of Kazakhstan, the administrative center of Khromtau District. It was formed in 1967. Population: Khromtau has important Chromium deposits, which are currently exploited ...
. Those were for example the three Kazakh cities which had players in the team at the Youth-17, Youth Bandy World Championship for boys in 2016. The capital
Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...
has hosted national youth championships in
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
as well as championships in traditional eleven-a-side bandy. In recent years the former capital
Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...
has hosted both the
Asian Winter Games The Asian Winter Games (AWG) is an international multi-sport event held every four years for members of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) which features winter events. The Japanese Olympic Committee first suggested the idea of holding a winter v ...
(with bandy on the program) as well as the
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
for men in which Kazakhstan finished 3rd. Plans are being made to reinvigorate the bandy section of the club
Dynamo Almaty Dynamo Alma-Ata (russian: Динамо Алма-Ата) was the bandy department of the sports club Dynamo Alma-Ata in Alma-Ata (now Almaty) in Kazakhstan at the time of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet ...
, who won the Soviet Championships in 1977 and 1990 as well as the
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
in 1978. Almaty is also the home of the headquarters of the Asian Bandy Federation. Since bandy began regaining popularity and acceptance, the state has begun supporting bandy.
Medeu The Medeu ( kk, Медеу, ''Medeu''), is an outdoor speed skating and bandy rink. It is located in a mountain valley (Medeu tract, Medeu Valley, or the valley of Malaya Almatinka River) on the south-eastern outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. M ...
in Almaty is the only arena with artificial ice. A second arena in Almaty was built for the World Championship 2012, but it was taken down afterwards. Stadion Yunost in
Oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or oral ...
was supposed to get artificial ice for the 2017–18 season. It got delayed but in 2018 it was officially ready for use.


Mongolia

The national team took a silver medal at the
2011 Asian Winter Games The 2011 Asian Winter Games ( kz, 2011 жылғы қысқы Азия ойындары, 2011 jılğı qısqı Azïya oyındarı) was a multi-sport event that was held in Nur-Sultan, Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, that began on January 30, 2011, an ...
, which led to being chosen as the best Mongolian sport team of 2011. Mongolia was proud to win the bronze medal of the B division at the 2017 Bandy World Championship after which the
President of Mongolia The president of Mongolia ( mn, Монгол Улсын Ерөнхийлөгч, ''Mongol Ulsyn Yerönkhiilögch'') is the executive head of state of Mongolia.Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, , p. 42 The current president is Ukhnaagiin ...
,
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (, ''Cahiagín Elbegdorj'' ; also referred to as Mongolyin Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj and Tsakhia Elbegdorj; born 30 March 1963) is a Mongolian politician who served as President of Mongolia from 2009 to 2017. He previously ser ...
, held a reception for the team.


Netherlands

Bandy as an organized sport was introduced to the Netherlands in the 1890s by Pim Mulier and the sport became popular. However, in the 1920s, the interest turned to ice hockey, but in contrast to other countries in central and western Europe, the sport has been continuously played in the Netherlands and since the 1970s, the country has become a member of FIB and games have been more formalised again. The national team started to compete at the WCS in
1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...
. However, without a proper venue, only
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
is played within the country. The national governing body is the Bandy Bond Nederland.


Norway

Bandy as an organized sport was introduced to Norway in the 1910s. The
Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...
contributed largely and clubs sprang up around the capital of Kristiania (present day
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
).
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, including neighbouring towns, is in the 21st Century still the region where bandy enjoys most popularity in Norway. In 1912 the
Norwegians Norwegians ( no, nordmenn) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation native to Norway, where they form the vast majority of the population. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegians are descended from the N ...
played their first
National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
, which was played annually up to 1940. During World War II, when Norway was occupied by Germany, illegal bandy was played in hidden places in forests, on ponds and lakes. In 1943, 1944 and 1945, illegal championships were held. In 1946 legal play resumed and still goes on in form of the
Norwegian Bandy Premier League The Norwegian Bandy Premier League no, Eliteserien is the top level of bandy in Norway. National bandy champions have been named yearly since 1912, but the league was only founded in 1932. The league consists of eight teams. After the regular lea ...
(''Eliteserien''). After World War II the number of teams rose, as well as attendance which regularly were in the thousands, but mild winters in the 1970s and 1980s shrunk the league, and in 2003 only five clubs (teams) fought out the 1st division with low attendance numbers and little media coverage. As of 2021 there are 10 teams in the
Norwegian Bandy Premier League The Norwegian Bandy Premier League no, Eliteserien is the top level of bandy in Norway. National bandy champions have been named yearly since 1912, but the league was only founded in 1932. The league consists of eight teams. After the regular lea ...
. Norway's best result in the
World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
is a second place in
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
.


Russia

In Russia bandy is known as hockey with a ball or simply Russian hockey. A similar game became popular among the Russian nobility in the early 1700s, with the imperial court of
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
playing a predecessor of modern bandy on
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
's frozen
Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
river. Russians initially played this game using ordinary footwear with sticks made out of juniper wood, but it wasn't until later that ice skates were introduced. Bandy did not became popular among the masses throughout the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
until the second half of the 19th century. The predecessor of the current
Russian Bandy Federation The Russian Bandy Federation (Russian: Федерация хоккея с мячом России, ФХМР (FKhMR)), formerly ''All-Russian Bandy Federation'' (Всероссийская федерация хоккея с мячом) is the gove ...
was founded in 1898. Bandy is considered a
national sport A national sport is considered to be an intrinsic part of the culture of a nation. Some sports are ''de facto'' (not established by law) national sports, as sumo is in Japan and Gaelic games are in Ireland and field hockey in Pakistan, while oth ...
in Russia and is the only discipline to have official support of the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
. Traditionally the Russians used a longer skate blade than other nations, giving them the advantage of skating faster. However, they would find it more difficult to turn quickly. A bandy skate has a longer blade than an ice hockey skate, and the "Russian skate" is even longer. Though bandy was still played in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
after the
Russian revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, they did not partake in any international games for many decades. While agreements had previously been made to play friendlies against
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in the late 1940s, these plans had not come to fruition. The bandy event at the
1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 195 ...
in Oslo, Norway where men's bandy featured as a
demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games, but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration spor ...
, was played without any Soviet team. However, the Soviets reconsidered their position following this competition. When the
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
was formed in 1955, with the Soviet Union as one of its founding members, the Russians largely adopted the international rules of the game developed in England in the 19th century, with one notable exception. The other countries adopted the border which until then had only been used in Russia. Since the 1950s, when the Soviet Union ended its isolation and started to take part in internatiinal sports events, the Soviet Union and then Russia (as its successor country in 1991) has consistently held a top position in the sport of bandy, both as a founding nation of the
International Federation This is a list of international sports federations, each of which serves as a non-governmental governing body for a given sport and administers its sport at a world level, most often crafting rules, promoting the sport to prospective spectator ...
in 1955, and fielding the most successful team in the
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
, the premiere international competition for men, (when counting the previous Soviet Union team and Russia together). The men's Russian professional bandy league is called the
Russian Bandy Super League The Russian Bandy Super League (russian: Чемпионат России по хоккею с мячом — Суперлига), is a men's professional bandy league in Russia, the top division of Russian bandy. There is no definite rule which ...
. The
Russian Bandy Supreme League Russian Bandy Supreme League (russian: Первенство России среди команд Высшей лиги) is the second tier of Russian bandy, below Russian Bandy Super League. In the 2016–17 season, 23 teams competed in three gro ...
is the second tier of men's Russian bandy, below the Russian Bandy Super League. In
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the
Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...
(literally, the "Elite League") is the highest bandy league in the country for men, while
Bandyallsvenskan Allsvenskan (literally, "The All Swedish") ( sv, Allsvenskan i bandy) is since the 2007–08 the second highest level of bandy in Sweden and comprises 24 teams in two regional groups. This change was made when Allsvenskan and Elitserien were c ...
is the second division. In
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, the highest bandy league for men is the
Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991–92 season. Bandyl ...
. In a similar fashion, Russia, along with Sweden, has emerged as one of the two dominant women's bandy nations internationally, regularly placing first or second at the premier international bandy competition for women, the
Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...
. After the victory in the 2016 World Championship, the fourth in a row,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
received four players of the national team,
Head Coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...
and
Vice-President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
of the
Russian Bandy Federation The Russian Bandy Federation (Russian: Федерация хоккея с мячом России, ФХМР (FKhMR)), formerly ''All-Russian Bandy Federation'' (Всероссийская федерация хоккея с мячом) is the gove ...
Sergey Myaus, the Russian Bandy Federation as well as
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
President Boris Skrynnik in
The Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...
. He talked, among other things, about the need to give more support to Russian bandy. It was the first time a
head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
had accepted a meeting to talk about Russian bandy. Attending the meeting were also Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth policy
Vitaly Mutko Vitaly Leontiyevich Mutko (russian: Виталий Леонтьевич Мутко; born Viktor Leontiyevich Mutko; 8 December 1958) is a Russian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia from 2016–2020. From 2008 to 2016, ...
and presidential adviser
Igor Levitin Igor Yevgenyevich Levitin (russian: Игорь Евгеньевич Левитин) (born 21 February 1952) is a Russian political figure, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation since September 2013, and Class 1 Active State Advisor of th ...
. The month after, Igor Levitin held a follow-up meeting.


Russian Championship

The men's Russian professional bandy league is called the
Russian Bandy Super League The Russian Bandy Super League (russian: Чемпионат России по хоккею с мячом — Суперлига), is a men's professional bandy league in Russia, the top division of Russian bandy. There is no definite rule which ...
. The
Russian Bandy Supreme League Russian Bandy Supreme League (russian: Первенство России среди команд Высшей лиги) is the second tier of Russian bandy, below Russian Bandy Super League. In the 2016–17 season, 23 teams competed in three gro ...
is the second tier of men's Russian bandy, below the Russian Bandy Super League. The
Russian Bandy Super League The Russian Bandy Super League (russian: Чемпионат России по хоккею с мячом — Суперлига), is a men's professional bandy league in Russia, the top division of Russian bandy. There is no definite rule which ...
is the top tier of the Russian bandy league system. It is professional and played every year. The winner in the final becomes Russian champion. It is considered a continuation of the Soviet Union championship, which was played annually until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.


Russian Cup

The Russian Cup has been played annually (except for just some years) since 1937, originally called the Soviet Cup.


Sweden

Bandy as an organized sport was introduced to Sweden in 1895. The
Swedish royal family The Swedish royal family ( sv, Svenska kungafamiljen) since 1818 has consisted of members of the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. Today those who are recognized by the government are entitled to royal ti ...
, noblemen and diplomats were among the first players. While the original inspiration mainly came from England, there also were early exchanges with Germany and Russia. Bandy was taken up as one of the sports at the international
Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...
held in Sweden semi-annually from 1901. Swedish championships for men have been played annually since 1907 and Sweden was the first country to have an annual bandy league. In the 1920s students played the game, then it spread across the country and became a largely middle-class sport. The games could have attracted huge crowds of spectators. After
Slottsbrons IF Slottsbrons IF is a sports club in Slottsbron, Sweden, playing bandy and association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their ...
won the Swedish championship in 1934 it became popular amongst workers in many smaller industrial towns and villages. Where there was a bandy club the local factory corporation also usually sponsored the club to mutual benefit as a successful team led to good PR for the company. Bandy remains the main sport in many of these places. Bandy in Sweden is famous for its "culture" where both playing bandy and being a spectator requires great fortitude and dedication. A "" is the classic accessory for spectating and is typically made of brown leather, well worn, and contains a warm drink in a thermos and/or a bottle of liquor. Bandy is most often played at outdoor arenas during winter time, so the need for spectators to carry flasks or thermoses of 'warming' liquid like
glögg Glögg, gløgg or glögi ( da, gløgg, no, gløgg, sv, glögg, is, glögg, fo, gløgg, fi, glögi, et, glögi) is a spiced, usually Alcoholic drink, alcoholic, mulled wine or Alcoholic spirit, spirit. It is a traditional Nordic drink dur ...
is a natural effect. With the sport moving indoors in later decades and the arenas urging for non-alcoholic policies for the audiences, this tradition has partly changed, though not without opposition. A notable tradition is " annandagsbandy", bandy games played on
Saint Stephen's Day Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in Western Christianity and 27 December in Eastern Chri ...
, which for many
Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...
is an important
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
season tradition and always draws bigger crowds than usual. Games traditionally begin at 1:15 pm.


Swedish Championship

In
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the
Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...
(literally, the "Elite League") is the highest bandy league in the country for men, while
Bandyallsvenskan Allsvenskan (literally, "The All Swedish") ( sv, Allsvenskan i bandy) is since the 2007–08 the second highest level of bandy in Sweden and comprises 24 teams in two regional groups. This change was made when Allsvenskan and Elitserien were c ...
is the second division. The Elite League is the top tier of Swedish bandy and is fully professional. At the end of the season, a play-off is made to make out the two teams playing the final match for the Swedish Championship. The Final is played every year on the third Saturday of March. From 1991 to 2012, it was played at Studenternas Idrottsplats in
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
, often drawing crowds in excess of 20,000. One reason the play-off match was set in Uppsala is because of
IFK Uppsala IFK Uppsala is a Swedish sports club located in Uppsala in Sweden, with several departments: * IFK Uppsala Fotboll, association football department * IFK Uppsala Bandy, bandy department The club was established in 1895. On 30 January 1921, t ...
's success at the beginning of the 20th century. IFK Uppsala won 11 titles in the Swedish Championships between 1907 and 1920, which made them the most successful bandy club in the entire country (now, however, the record is held by Västerås SK). A contributing factor was also the poor quality of the ice at
Söderstadion Söderstadion ''(translated in English as Southern Stadium)'' was a football and bandy stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened in 1966 and closed in 2013, being replaced by nearby Tele2 Arena. Söderstadion had a capacity of 12,800 depending ...
, where the finals were held from 1967 to 1989. In 2013 and 2014 the final was played indoors in
Friends Arena Nationalarenan, currently known as Friends Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the biggest stadium in ...
, the national stadium for football in
Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of t ...
,
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, with a retractable roof and a capacity of 50 000. The first final at Friends Arena in 2013 drew a record crowd of 38,474 when
Hammarby IF Bandy Hammarby IF Bandyförening is a Swedish bandy club from Södermalm, Stockholm, a section of the sports club Hammarby IF. Hammarby IF was founded under its present name in 1897 and has been playing bandy since 1905. The club currently play in ...
, after ending up in second place in six finals during the 2000s, won their second title. Due to declining attendance from 2015 through 2017
Tele2 Arena The Stockholmsarenan, known as the Tele2 Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov, just south of Stockholm City Centre, Sweden. It is used mostly for concerts and football m ...
in southern
Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
was chosen as a new venue. However, the new indoor venue failed to attract much more than half of the total capacity. In May 2017 it was announced that the finals will again be held at Studenternas IP in Uppsala from 2018 through at least 2021.


Svenska Cupen (The Swedish Cup)

The ''Svenska Cupen'' ( eng, The Swedish Cup), ''Svenska Cupen i bandy'', takes place exclusively in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. It is a
single-elimination tournament A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
competition in Swedish bandy and the second-most prominent bandy competition which is open only to domestic Swedish teams, after the national championship. Its inaugural year was
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. The first women's competition was played in 2019.


Switzerland

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Switzerland had become a popular place for winter vacations and people went there from all over Europe. Winter sports like skiing, sledding and bandy was played in Geneva and other towns. Students from Oxford and Cambridge went to Switzerland to play each other – the predecessor of the recurring
Ice Hockey Varsity Match The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the Cambridge and Oxford University Ice Hockey Clubs. Tradition places the origin of the match in 1885, when a game is said to have been played in St Moritz. This date is recogni ...
was a bandy match played in St. Moritz in 1885. This popularity for Swiss venues of winter sport may have been a reason, the European Championship was held there in 1913. Bandy has mainly been played as a recreational sport in Switzerland in the 2000s and 2010s. A Swiss men's national team was finally started up in 2017 and a Swiss women's national team made its international début in the
2018 Women's Bandy World Championship The 2018 Women's Bandy World Championship was held in China, in the city of Chengde on 9–13 January 2018. This was the IXth Women's Bandy World Championship. While the record number of participants in previous tournaments is 7, the organisers h ...
.


Ukraine

Bandy was played in Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, it took some years before organised bandy formed again, but Ukrainian champions have been named annually since 2012.


United Kingdom

The first recorded games of what may be considered bandy on ice took place in
The Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...
during the great frost of 1813–1814, although it is probable that the game had already been played there in the previous century.
Bury Fen Bandy Club Fen skating is a traditional form of ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Bone skates have been found in the area dating back to the medieval period ...
from Bluntisham-cum-Earith, near St Ives, was the most successful team, said to have remained unbeaten for a hundred years until the winter of 1890–1891.
Charles Goodman Tebbutt Charles Goodman Tebbutt (1860–1944) was an English speed skater and bandy player from Bluntisham, England, in the Fens of Cambridgeshire where Fen skating was a popular winter activity in the nineteenth century. He also wrote articles and b ...
of the Bury Fen Bandy Club was responsible for the first published rules of bandy in 1882, and also for introducing the game into the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as elsewhere in England where it became popular with cricket, rowing, and hockey clubs. Tebbutt's homemade bandy stick can be seen in the Norris Museum in St Ives. The first
Ice Hockey Varsity Match The Ice Hockey Varsity Match is a longstanding competition between the Cambridge and Oxford University Ice Hockey Clubs. Tradition places the origin of the match in 1885, when a game is said to have been played in St Moritz. This date is recogni ...
es between
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
were played to bandy rules, even if it was called hockey on the ice at the time. England won the
European Bandy Championships European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
in 1913, but that turned out to be the grand finale, and bandy is now not very well known in England. While bandy is often thought to have been a pretty popular sport in England in the decades around 1900, not much records seem to have been kept. A statue of a bandy player, designed by Peter Baker, was erected at the village pond of
Earith Earith is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Earith lies approximately east of Huntingdon. Earith is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county ...
to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first documented game in 2013. In March 2004, Norwegian ex-player Edgar Malman invited two big clubs to play a
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
exhibition game in
Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...
, London. Russian Champions and World Cup Winner Vodnik met Swedish Champions
Edsbyns IF Edsbyns IF, is a bandy team from Edsbyn in Ovanåker Municipality in Sweden founded on 6 June 1909. The bandy section of the club was founded as late as in 1925 was formally made a club of its own on 28 June 2000. Edsbyns IF has played in ...
in a match that ended 10–10. In 2010 England became a
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
member. The national federation is based in Cambridgeshire, the historical heartland. The England Bandy Federation, later renamed the Great Britain Bandy Association, was set up on 2 January 2017 at a meeting held in the historic old skaters public house, the Lamb and Flag in
Welney Welney is a village and civil parish in the Fens of England, and the county of Norfolk. The village is about south-west of the town of Downham Market, south of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The county boundary wit ...
in
Norfolk, England Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...
, replacing the Bandy Federation of England which was founded in 2010. In September 2017, the federation decided to widen its territory to all of the United Kingdom and changed its name to Great Britain Bandy Association. Great Britain entered a national team in the 2019 World Championships Group B in January and undefeated up to the final, won the silver medal in their final match against Estonia. In 2002, Great Britain premiered its national women's bandy team at the
2022 Women's Bandy World Championship The 2022 tournament was originally to be held in Stockholm, and this was the logo created for it. The 2022 Women's Bandy World Championship was an international bandy tournament for women and the 11th (XI) Women's Bandy World Championship organiz ...
.


United States

Bandy in its original, informal manner disappeared from the North American continent entirely once it and elements from the early game had become absorbed into a new sport of
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
. While ice hockey was growing and organizing in the United States, bandy was doing the same, but only in Europe and Scandinavia. It would not arrive in its organized format in the United States until the 1970s, almost a century after its initial development. Bandy has been played in the United States since around the 1970s, after its promotion by Russians, Swedes and Finns in an exchange with
softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
, a sport which was promoted by Americans during the same time in the Soviet Union, Sweden and Finland. A key-person in the establishment of the sport in America was Bob Kojetin of
Minnesota Softball Minnesota Softball is the statewide governing body of amateur softball in Minnesota and an affiliate of USA Softball. As the governing body of softball in Minnesota, it is our responsibility to regulate competition to ensure fairness and equal ...
. The sport is centered in Minnesota, with very few teams based elsewhere. The United States national bandy team has participated in the Bandy World Championships since 1985 and is also regularly playing friendly matches against Canada. The leading organization for bandy in the USA is USA Bandy. The USA has a men's national bandy team and a women's national bandy team. The first bandy game in the USA was played in December 1979 at the Lewis Park Bandy Rink in
Edina, Minnesota Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. Edina began as a small farming and mil ...
. It was a friendly game between the Swedish junior national team and Swedish club team Brobergs IF. United States bandy championships have been played annually since the early 1980s, but the sport is not widely covered by American sports media. The championship trophy is called the
Gunnar Cup United States bandy champions are the winners of the annual play-offs following the regular league of the Division I in the American Bandy League, the top league for bandy in the United States. The championship trophy is called the ''Gunnar Cup' ...
, named for Gunnar Fast, a Swedish army captain who helped introduce bandy to the United States around 1980.


Playing surfaces

While North American ice hockey rinks can be used for playing the bandy variant of
rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
, places where the traditional game of bandy can be played require a larger sized playing surface, a
bandy field A bandy field or bandy rink is a large ice rink used for playing the team winter sport of bandy. Being about the size of a football pitch, it is substantially larger than an ice hockey rink. History Originally, bandy was played on naturally froz ...
, and are almost non-existent in North America.
Minnesota, USA Minnesota () is a U.S. state, state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd m ...
is home to the only regulation sized bandy "rink" in North America, the
Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval The Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval (officially stylized as OVAL), formerly the John Rose Minnesota Oval, is an outdoor ice rink in Roseville, Minnesota, United States. It is claimed to be the largest artificial outdoor skating surface in North ...
, commonly referred to as, "The Oval", and is also the largest outdoor refrigerated skating rink in North America. The rink is 110,000 square feet with more than 800 tons of refrigeration and 84 miles of pipes underneath the ice. The ice can be maintained in temperatures up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The Oval can hold up to 300 spectators and has hosted World Cup Speedskating, the
2016 Women's Bandy World Championship 2016 Women's Bandy World Championship is held in Roseville, Minnesota, USA, on February 18–21, 2016. The Guidant John Rose Minnesota Oval hosts the games. This is the eighth Women's Bandy World Championship and the second Women's Bandy World Ch ...
, and Aggressive Skating/Biking competitions. The oval is used mostly for
inline hockey Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The sport ...
during the summer.


National bandy federations

The following associations are the governing bodies for bandy in different countries and are member organisations of the
Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; french: Fédération internationale de bandy, russian: Международная федерация хоккея с мячом, sv, Internationella Bandyförbundet) is the international governing bo ...
. * Belarus – Belarusian Bandy Federation, Беларуская федэрацыя хакея з мячaм (Belarusian Bandy Federation) * Canada – Canada Bandy * People's Republic of China –
China Bandy Federation China Bandy Federation, ''CBF'', was founded on 13 December 2014. The Chinese Ice Hockey Association joined the Federation of International Bandy (FIB) in 2010 and governed bandy in China until it was replaced by the CBF. The federation was foun ...
* Colombia – Colombia Federation of Skating Sports * Czech Republic – Czech Association of Bandy * Estonia – Estonian Bandy Association, Eesti Jääpalliliit (Estonian Bandy Association) * Finland – Finland's Bandy Association * Germany –
German Bandy Federation German Bandy Federation (German: ''Deutscher Bandy-Bund'') is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Germany. German Bandy Association was founded and became member of the Federation of International Bandy in 2013. An earlier German bandy f ...
* Hungary – Hungarian Bandy Federation * India – Bandy Federation of India * Italy – Federazione Italiana Bandy * Japan – Japan Bandy Federation * Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan Bandy Federation * Kyrgyzstan – Bandy Federation of Kyrgyzstan * Latvia – Latvia's Bandy Federation, Latvijas Bendija Federācija * Mongolia – Bandy Federation of Mongolia * Netherlands – Bandy Bond Nederland. * Norway – Norway's Bandy Association, Norges Bandyforbund * Russia – Russian Bandy Federation, Федерация хоккея с мячом России (Russian Bandy Federation) * Somalia – Somali National Bandy Association * Sweden – Swedish Bandy Association, Svenska Bandyförbundet * Switzerland – Federation of Swiss Bandy * Ukraine – Ukrainian Bandy and Rink bandy Federation, Українськa Федерація хокею з м'ячем та рінк-бенді (Ukrainian Bandy and Rink bandy Federation) * United Kingdom – Great Britain Bandy Association * United States – American Bandy Association


See also

*
Rink bandy Rink bandy is a variant of the larger sport of bandy. Unlike bandy which is played on a large bandy field, rink bandy is played on significantly smaller ice hockey sized ice rinks. While a bandy field is about the same size as a football pitch, ...
* Bando (sport), Bando * Rinkball * Pond hockey * Ice hockey * Ringette *
Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition between bandy-playing nations' men's teams. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the Wome ...
*
Women's Bandy World Championship The Women's Bandy World Championships is an international sports tournament for women and the premier international competition for women's bandy between bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Ban ...
* Bandy in the United States * Bandy in Norway * Bandy in India * Canada Bandy *
Swedish Bandy Association The Swedish Bandy Association ( sv, Svenska Bandyförbundet) is the governing body of bandy in Sweden. It organizes the bandy leagues, Elitserien and Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women, and the men's and women's national teams. It w ...
*
Russian Bandy Federation The Russian Bandy Federation (Russian: Федерация хоккея с мячом России, ФХМР (FKhMR)), formerly ''All-Russian Bandy Federation'' (Всероссийская федерация хоккея с мячом) is the gove ...


References


Bibliography

* The Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire Hedley Park and Aflalo, F.G. ''Bandy'' (includes definition and rules), pp. 71–72, 1897. Published by Lawrence & Bullen, Ltd., 16 Henrietta St., Covent Garden, London.


External links

* – History and rules of Bandy. *
Federation of International Bandy

Bandysidan links
– One of the most extensive link directories about bandy

* [http://www.goalwire.com/en/statistics_and_tables/bandy/ Goalwire statistics for bandy] *
Ninh.co.uk: "The Rules of Bandy - EXPLAINED!"
(video), retrieved 14 October 2017 {{ice Bandy, Ball games Former Winter Olympic sports Ice skating sports Sports originating in England Sports originating in Russia Team sports Stick sports Variations of hockey 1875 introductions