WC: 2025 groups announced
- Thread starter FinPanda
- Start date
To go through, in this order:
Sweden
Canada
Finland
Slovakia
Switzerland
Czech Rep
US
Germany
But Denmark playing at home so might sneak 4th in Group B.
Never heard of Herning. Any good? Decent hockey city?
Herning dominated Danish hockey from 1990 until the early 2010s, but in recent years the soccer club FC Midtjylland (est. 1999) has become the clear number one show in town. For hockey the games are a good opportunity to stay relevant. Even the arenas are directly adjacent.
Ah, interesting. Yes, football is always a big factor in hockey-loving European nations. Despite everything we have just witnessed in Prague, football is still number 1 generally. Of course, the current iteration of the Czech national team is not very good so elicits a fraction of the response the hockey players would, but many more people play football and when the Czechs did well, like in Euro 1996 or 2004, the whole country stood still. Canadian ice hockey does not have to worry about this kind of competition from another sport for young people taking up a sport.
That said, 76% and 82%, respectively, of TVs switched on in the Czech Republic were tuned into the semifinal and final games. Even in the impossible event we ever made the football World Cup final, those figures could physically not be much higher.
I read somewhere on this board that more Czechs watched the final than people around the world (not just North America) watched the Stanley Cup finals last year (not sure if that related to an average viewing figure for all the SC final games or just picked one game). I wonder if it is true.
Many people follow football as everywhere in the world but it is definitely not number one sport. Attendance is also not that great besides Prague.
Just so out of interest for comparison, the 20 largest clubs in attendance in Czech hockey and soccer:
17,716 SK Slavia Praha
17,007 AC Sparta Praha
11,586 HC Sparta Praha
9,460 Dynamo Pardubice
9,360 FC Baník Ostrava
9,030 FC Viktoria Plzeň
7,362 FC Hradec Králové
6,875 HC Kometa Brno
6,132 HC Motor České Budějovice
5,643 FK Teplice
5,350 HC Vítkovice Ridera
5,333 HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
5,299 Bohemians Praha 1905
5,103 1. FC Slovácko
4,773 HC Plzeň 1929
4,754 HC Olomouc
4,639 HC VERVA Litvínov
4,601 SK Sigma Olomouc
4,586 HC Oceláři Třinec
4,362 Mountfield HK Hradec Králové
4,346 HC Energie Karlovy Vary
3,535 FC Zlín
3,443 FK Pardubice
3,153 SK Dynamo České Budějovice
3,080 FC Slovan Liberec
3,016 BK Mladá Boleslav
2,759 FK Mladá Boleslav
2,738 PSG Berani Zlín
2,720 FC Zbrojovka Brno
2,672 MFK Karviná
2,653 Rytiři Kladno
2,621 HC Vsetín
2,455 FK Jablonec
1,653 Piráti Chomutov
1,572 Slezský FC Opava
1,401 FK Dukla Praha
1,267 FK Viktoria Žižkov
1,043 HC Zubr Přerov
1,036 SC Blue Bucks Kolín
903 HC Frýdek Místek
In Denmark the largest first league hockey club (Aalborg Pirates 3,515) and the smallest soccer club (Hvidovre IF 3,990) have similar attendances. In Herning Blue Fox 2,150 and FC Midtjylland 9,452.
17,716 SK Slavia Praha
17,007 AC Sparta Praha
11,586 HC Sparta Praha
9,460 Dynamo Pardubice
9,360 FC Baník Ostrava
9,030 FC Viktoria Plzeň
7,362 FC Hradec Králové
6,875 HC Kometa Brno
6,132 HC Motor České Budějovice
5,643 FK Teplice
5,350 HC Vítkovice Ridera
5,333 HC Bílí Tygři Liberec
5,299 Bohemians Praha 1905
5,103 1. FC Slovácko
4,773 HC Plzeň 1929
4,754 HC Olomouc
4,639 HC VERVA Litvínov
4,601 SK Sigma Olomouc
4,586 HC Oceláři Třinec
4,362 Mountfield HK Hradec Králové
4,346 HC Energie Karlovy Vary
3,535 FC Zlín
3,443 FK Pardubice
3,153 SK Dynamo České Budějovice
3,080 FC Slovan Liberec
3,016 BK Mladá Boleslav
2,759 FK Mladá Boleslav
2,738 PSG Berani Zlín
2,720 FC Zbrojovka Brno
2,672 MFK Karviná
2,653 Rytiři Kladno
2,621 HC Vsetín
2,455 FK Jablonec
1,653 Piráti Chomutov
1,572 Slezský FC Opava
1,401 FK Dukla Praha
1,267 FK Viktoria Žižkov
1,043 HC Zubr Přerov
1,036 SC Blue Bucks Kolín
903 HC Frýdek Místek
In Denmark the largest first league hockey club (Aalborg Pirates 3,515) and the smallest soccer club (Hvidovre IF 3,990) have similar attendances. In Herning Blue Fox 2,150 and FC Midtjylland 9,452.
GotTheMovesLikeJagr
Registered User
Denmark actually did a great job at hosting, and in fact, Herning was the superior host! I saw games in both Copenhagen and Herning, and for a first-time host they did almost everything right. Royal Arena was better than Boxen, but the fan zone in Copenhagen was probably a bit too small, but within an urban setting this is a commons problem I guess. Still, not bad!
For a foreigner, Herning would seem like an odd choice for a WHC host city with its small population of 51,312. But as was stated above, it is one of the hockey strongholds in Denmark along with handball. In fact, the 2019 IHF Handball World Championship final was played in Herning despite also using Royal Arena in CPH, for the same reason - there are a lot of passionate handball and hockey fans in Jutland. Hockey in Denmark is similar to Norway in that its popularity is very regional: Lillehammer and Hamar are very small towns, but their hockey fan bases are strong. That is one of the reasons (along with the Lillehammer Olympics of 1994) that the 1999 IIHF WHC finals were played at Håkons Hall in Limmehammer instead of Oslo.
For Herning itself, it was a great host city which really catered to their fans: my feeling was that Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Latvian and German hockey fans were more down-to-earth and middle-class - they fit perfectly in Herning's rural setting.
The organizers had a large camping/RV park right by the arena, seeing that many Germans came by RVs. The arena had a great (official) fan zone with big screens, options to play street or air hockey and a lot of food options (Danish hot dogs, Italian stone oven pizza, burgers, Thai, smørrebrød open-top sandwiches if I remember correctly). But not only that, besides the official fan zone you had a secondary fan zone in the Boxen conference center where tickets weren't required, with grills, bars, big screens and music which was open after the official one closed for the night. Hell, some Finns had even brought a portable sauna truck!
Accomodation is probably a bit unorthodox in Herning: besides hotels, you would have to rely on AirBnBs and camping. Me, my wife (fiancee at the time) and some of our friends had opted for some of the cheap temporary hotel rooms built inside the Boxen conference for the occasion. After a day of hockey and beers, you really only needed a bed and an outlet to charge your phone and those rooms did the trick (restrooms were the ones in the conference center).
And our favourite feature of that secondary fan zone: a Rema 1000 supermarket where you could buy 24-packs of beer for normal Danish shop prices, snacks, food and RV/camping necessities. Yes, in that fan zone you could bring and drink your own beers (the Finns brought crates of Hartwall long drinks) like a US tailgate and get a good and cheap buzz before heading for the game you had tickets for and buying the more expensive arena beers.
In my opinion, the Czechs should have been in Herning back in 2018 (they dug shopping bags of beer in the ditch outside the arena - and as weird or cheap that sounds, as a Norwegian-Czech, I perfectly understand that), and I am really happy they are in Herning instead of Stockholm.
In fact, ticket prices were surprisingly affordable - we were able to see 14 games, including SWE-CZE, CZE-RUS, NOR-SWE, CAN-FIN, the BMG and GMG on a very average intermediary-sized salary. The attendance numbers speaks for themselves: 2018 is the 8th most visited IIHF WHC with 520,481 spectators, or an average of 8,133. Very good for a first-time host in a nontraditional hockey market.
I am not surprised Sweden decided to cooperate with Denmark, considering their mistakes in the 2012/2013 hosting efforts. If Stockholm/Herning keep prices relatively low (pending inflation), and Herning return with some of the features that made 2018 amazing (enjoy home-bought beers, supermarket, good food/drink options two fan zones) then 2025 will be a hit for those in "unknown" Herning.
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This is a great post! Very informative and interesting. Really thank you very much indeed! I hope Herning will be a huge success! Sounds like it will be.Denmark actually did a great job at hosting, and in fact, Herning was the superior host! I saw games in both Copenhagen and Herning, and for a first-time host they did almost everything right. Royal Arena was better than Boxen, but the fan zone in Copenhagen was probably a bit too small, but within an urban setting this is a commons problem I guess. Still, not bad!
For a foreigner, Herning would seem like an odd choice for a WHC host city with its small population of 51,312. But as was stated above, it is one of the hockey strongholds in Denmark along with handball. In fact, the 2019 IHF Handball World Championship final was played in Herning despite also using Royal Arena in CPH, for the same reason - there are a lot of passionate handball and hockey fans in Jutland. Hockey in Denmark is similar to Norway in that its popularity is very regional: Lillehammer and Hamar are very small towns, but their hockey fan bases are strong. That is one of the reasons (along with the Lillehammer Olympics of 1994) that the 1999 IIHF WHC finals were played at Håkons Hall in Limmehammer instead of Oslo.
For Herning itself, it was a great host city which really catered to their fans: my feeling was that Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Latvian and German hockey fans were more down-to-earth and middle-class - they fit perfectly in Herning's rural setting.
The organizers had a large camping/RV park right by the arena, seeing that many Germans came by RVs. The arena had a great (official) fan zone with big screens, options to play street or air hockey and a lot of food options (Danish hot dogs, Italian stone oven pizza, burgers, Thai, smørrebrød open-top sandwiches if I remember correctly). But not only that, besides the official fan zone you had a secondary fan zone in the Boxen conference center where tickets weren't required, with grills, bars, big screens and music which was open after the official one closed for the night. Hell, some Finns had even brought a portable sauna truck!
Accomodation is probably a bit unorthodox in Herning: besides hotels, you would have to rely on AirBnBs and camping. Me, my wife (fiancee at the time) and some of our friends had opted for some of the cheap temporary hotel rooms built inside the Boxen conference for the occasion. After a day of hockey and beers, you really only needed a bed and an outlet to charge your phone and those rooms did the trick (restrooms were the ones in the conference center).
And our favourite feature of that secondary fan zone: a Rema 1000 supermarket where you could buy 24-packs of beer for normal Danish shop prices, snacks, food and RV/camping necessities. Yes, in that fan zone you could bring and drink your own beers (the Finns brought crates of Hartwall long drinks) like a US tailgate and get a good and cheap buzz before heading for the game you had tickets for and buying the more expensive arena beers.
In my opinion, the Czechs should have been in Herning back in 2018 (they dug shopping bags of beer in the ditch outside the arena - and as weird or cheap that sounds, as a Norwegian-Czech, I perfectly understand that), and I am really happy they are in Herning instead of Stockholm.
In fact, ticket prices were surprisingly affordable - we were able to see 14 games, including SWE-CZE, CZE-RUS, NOR-SWE, CAN-FIN, the BMG and GMG on a very average intermediary-sized salary. The attendance numbers speaks for themselves: 2018 is the 8th most visited IIHF WHC with 520,481 spectators, or an average of 8,133. Very good for a first-time host in a nontraditional hockey market.
I am not surprised Sweden decided to cooperate with Denmark, considering their mistakes in the 2012/2013 hosting efforts. If Stockholm/Herning keep prices relatively low (pending inflation), and Herning return with some of the features that made 2018 amazing (enjoy home-bought beers, supermarket, good food/drink options two fan zones) then 2025 will be a hit for those in "unknown" Herning.
jj cale
Registered User
We actually do, More young people play football in Canada then hockey. It's simply far more affordable then hockey.
Fact of life.
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That makes sense, in the Czech Republic it’s also often more of an economic decision. Doesn’t cost much to kick around a ball.
But the Czechs are also football-crazy, you should have seen the country when the team made the final of Euro96 and the semis in 2004. Not sure how crazy Canada goes for football. Of course, it makes a difference how well the team is doing; our team is not that strong these days so there is less enthusiasm, but I guarantee that even with the current relative weakness of the Czech team, nothing will come close to the viewing figures of the Czech games in the upcoming Euro2024 tournament, and pubs and open spaces and huge screens in public squares will be packed yo the hilt with people watching.
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jj cale
Registered User
We're not crazy about it at all like the european nations are but it's growing steadily, Euro for example will get great ratings here coming up. What's missing is the culture around the sport but even that is picking up.
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Czechboy
Češi do toho!
- Apr 15, 2018
- 26,377
- 23,699
I get it that you like football buddy, but fact is that Euros are less and less watched in Czech Republic even when we participate. One of the most watched matches from EURO 2012 against Poland was the most followed match of that tournament with 1.099m people watching on TV. This year´s final of WCH was watched by 3,5M people. Which is way more than even most watched match of EURO 2004 (semifinals against Greece) which you have already mentioned -> 2,2M.
Football and hockey culture is very different here, people are talking about football now of course. But literally everyone around me talked about hockey when it started, even people not following sport at all and viewership talks by itself.
Switcherland will be swapped. That's why it's Switcherland.
We Finns are so afraid of CAN & SWE in the QF's now (Finland got eliminated by them in last two WHC tournaments) that we had to pull our Kummola card and use his old connections to get the job (swap) done. The good old mafioso did his job well. Finnish corruption at it's finest!
A lot of non-sports fans will tune in because of the buzz when it's the final at home, if it was just another IIHF World Championship tournament somewhere in Finland that'd be different. Similarly many people that normally don't bother with soccer at all would go absolutely nuts if the UEFA Euros took place in Czechia.
While you are correct about football part, if you look up stats for WCH in 2010, last time we won. 1M of people watched on average (not just czech matches, average of all of them). Semifinal was watched by 2,4M and final by over 2,9M of people. Most watched thing ever in our TV is still Nagano 1998. Quaterfinals in 2019 against Germany were watched by 2,4 as well. Since 2006 football match in our TV never went beyond 1,5M. I think that says it all.
I understand what you are trying to say, half of the men I know are going to watch EURO, but WCH in hockey are watched or at least followed by pretty muc everyone, no matter age or gender.
