TBILISI, May 8, 2025 – Georgia emerged as champions of the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship, Division II Group B which took place in Dunedin, New Zealand from April 27 – May 3. They have now been promoted to to Division II, Group A. At the championship in Dunedin, Georgia defeated Iceland 4-0, New Zealand 5-0, Bulgaria 8-7, Chinese Taipei 3-1 and Thailand 15-1.

Two weeks before the world championship in Dunedin, Zaza Khechuashvili, the president of Georgian Ice Hockey Federation (GIHF), visited my TV sports talk show where he said, “The Georgian team has all it takes to reach first place at the World Championship 2025.” His expectations came true.

The Georgian Ice Hockey National Team at the championship in New Zealand includes: Mikhail Fofanov, Ivan Starostin, Sandro Mumladze, Nikita Bukiya, Vitaly Dumbadze, Nikolozi Ketchekmadze, Mikheil Davitashvili, Oliver Obolgogiani, Boris Kochkin, Andreu Romanov, Ivan Karelin, Semyon Kharizov, Artem Koziulin, Alexander Kireev, Dimitri Ermoshenko, Artem Kurbatov, Konstantin  Gavrilenko, Timur Besharov, Ivan Shvetsov, Danil Davidov, Makar Nikishanin, Daniil Metliuk, the Head coach Alexander Vedernikov and his assistants Revaz Tsomaia and Giorgi Jeiranashvili.

History of Ice Hockey in Georgia

The first ice hockey teams were formed at the end of 1950 and beginning of 1960. In 1961 and 1962 the first and second championships of Georgia took place in Bakuriani. The Georgian team defeated Armenia 11:2 and Kyrgyzstan 1:0 at Spartakiade USSR (1962) in Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) but lost their other games and finished in 10th place. (Georgia was part of the Soviet Union between 1922-1990 – author).

Between 1960-1980 there were arranged ice hockey tournaments of Georgia. From 1982 to 1986 the championships of Georgia took place. The Georgian children’s team “Pirveli Mertskhali ” (The first bird) took part in “Zolotaya Shayba”, the USSR children tournament.

Later, Kote Bakhutashvili, the legendary Georgian goalkeeper “Pirveli Mertskhali” played for both the youth team of CSKA Moscow club (1988-1989) and the USSR youth team (1988), before moving to “Itil” Kazan club (1991-1993). 

Ice Hockey in the period of Georgia’s Independence

In the 1990’s ice hockey regressed in Georgia because of problems in the country, but since 2004-2005 it was re-established thanks to enthusiasts.

The GIHF was founded in 2004. The championship of Georgia started in 2008. GIHF became a mamber of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 2009. The huge commitment to revamp ice hockey in Georgia led to former player Denis Davidov (1969-2009), who was born and brought up in Tbilisi, to become the president of GIHF from 2004-2009, followed by Nugzar Paikidze (2009-2016), Ilo Davidov – a brother of Denis Davidov (2017-2020), Giorgi Natroshvili (for six months starting from January 2021), and Zaza Khechuashvili (since the second half 2021 till date)

Since 2012, Georgia have been participating in the world championships organised by the IIHF. Georgian national team’s achievements: Champion of the World Championship Division III in 2018, 4th place in Group B Division II in 2019, the world championships were cancelled  in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Georgia won the silver in Group B Division II in 2022, vice-champion of Group A Division II in 2023, and bronze in Group B Division II in 2024.

But nowadays we are celebrating the huge success and new achievement of the Georgia National Team at the World Championship 2025.  The team came back to Georgia from New Zealand on May 5th. 

The Georgian National Ice Hockey Team of Georgia will compete at the Division II Group A World Championship in 2026.

Courtesy AIPS