New hockey facility to be erected in Riga

Article by Coliseum, published October 3, 2019

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A new hockey facility will come up at Riga in Latvia the construction of which has begun. The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the Organizing Committee for the Ice Hockey World Championship 2021 in Latvia made this announcement.

The new arena will come up adjacent to the Daugavas Stadium. Big events in Latvian hockey history have historically been held in the stadium and it was the site of the first Latvian hockey games. The first home games of Dynamo Riga were held there before they moved into an indoor arena.

Of late, football and athletic events are also held in the Daugavas Stadium. The city administration is putting in more than 10 million euros to construct the new ice arena which will meet the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship guidelines. Figure skating, speed skating and curling events will also be held in the new venue.

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Aigars Kalvitis, President of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation, said that they were “very pleased” to announce that a new ice hockey arena construction had begun in Riga.

A “happy” Horst Lichtner, IIHF Secretary General, said that he had “complete confidence” in Latvia and was pretty sure that the arena will be ready to host the opening of the Ice Hockey World Cup 2021 in Minsk and Riga.

Between May 7 and May 23, 2021, the Ice Hockey World Championship will be held in Riga, Latvia and Minsk in Belarus. The two cities had, along with Germany and France in 2017, jointly applied for playing host to the World Cup and had overcome competitors Finland.

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