NHL, NHLPA take step toward selecting 2028 World Cup of Hockey host cities

Following a successful 4 Nations Face-Off, the NHL and the NHLPA are moving forward with the next stage of a consistent return to best-on-best hockey.

The league and its players’ association have officially launched the RFP (request for proposal) phase of the host city selection process for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, the league announced Tuesday.

25 cities across North America and Europe have been chosen as prospective hosts after an initial expression of interest phase, which was launched in June. The 25 cities were not named in the release.

After each city finalizes their submissions and both the NHL and NHLPA review them, the final host city is expected to be announced in the early months of 2026.

Workshops will be held in Toronto on Sept. 17-18 and Zurich, Switzerland, on Sept. 22-23 to brief candidates on the vision and requirements to host the event.

Seen as a jumping-off point after the 4 Nations, the 2028 World Cup of Hockey is set to feature eight teams with a round-robin stage followed by an elimination stage. Two cities will be chosen to host the round-robin stage, with the elimination stage set to take place in just one of the selected locales.

The tournament is scheduled for February of 2028 and is expected to last 12 days.

The 2028 World Cup of Hockey will be the fourth iteration of the tournament, with prior competitions in 1996, 2004 and 2016. The 2016 tournament was hosted in Toronto, where Canada beat Team Europe to claim the gold medal.