Hungary had an excellent chance of winning the rights to host the World Championships as Poland, who was the other bidding nation had hosted the event in 2015 and 2016 decided to step back. The last time Hungary hosted this event they just missed out on winning promotion to the A-Pool as they finish in third place, behind Italy and Kazakhstan.
Hungary national team captain István Bartalis was excited about playing in front of a home crowd. “I was very happy to hear that we had won the right to host the World Championships. It is always a great feeling to play in the Sports Arena in front a sold out crowd. It has been a long time since we hosted the World Championships. It is too early to say what chances we have at the tournament however I hope there will be plenty of fans and we will try our best to make the fans happy.”
Great Britain, Poland, Kazakhstan and Hungary will be joined by freshly relegated Italy and Slovenia who will be competing for Division 1/A gold next year.
