Editing Bandy (section)

==International==
===International games in the early years===
The first international games were played by club teams in the 1890s.

Starting in the first decade of the 20th century, [[Exhibition game|friendlies]] were played between national teams of some European countries. While games like this did not take place in central and western Europe after the 1910s, the Nordic countries of Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden continued, doing it more regularly during the 1920s and 1930s with annually or semi-annually recurring friendlies between some of them.

Sweden tried to play friendly games against the Soviet Union in the 1940s, but it did not come to be until the mid-1950s.

===Nordic Games===
Bandy was played as one of the sports at the [[Nordic Games]], international winter sports events held during the first few decades of the 20th century.

===International federation===
The Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace, or [[International Ice Hockey Federation]] as it is more well known as today, was founded in 1908 and was governing some bandy competitions in its early years, before only concentrating on ice hockey.

[[Image:BandyCountries.png|thumb|World map showing the 27 [[Federation of International Bandy]] members as of May 2017]]
The [[Federation of International Bandy]] (FIB) was formed as ''International Bandy Federation'' in 1955 and has had 33 members at most, each representing a country where bandy is played. Currently, there are 27 members of the federation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbandy.com/members.html|title=Members – Federation of International Bandy|website=www.worldbandy.com|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127123051/http://www.worldbandy.com/members.html|archive-date=27 January 2017|url-status = dead}}</ref> The name of the federation was changed to the present one in 2001 after the [[International Olympic Committee]] approved it as a so-called "[[International Olympic Committee#Sports federations recognised by IOC|recognized sport]]". The abbreviation "IBF" was at the time already used by another recognized sports federation, and IOC considers it important that the official abbreviations of sports federations are unique, so that the federations are not mistaken for one another.

In 2004, FIB was fully accepted by IOC. FIB is now a member of [[Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations]].

===World Championships===
[[File:2012bandy russia-sweden1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Russia national bandy team|Russia]] in the men's [[Bandy World Championship 2012|World Championships 2012]]]]
[[File:BandyCountriesWC2017.png|thumb|right|A record eighteen countries participated in the World Championships of [[2016 Bandy World Championship|2016]] and [[2017 Bandy World Championship|2017]]. Blue means Division A countries, red Division B countries as of the 2017 tournament and green the other [[Federation of International Bandy|FIB]] members. Latvia, which was relegated from Division A in 2016, made a late cancellation in 2017.]]

====Men====
The [[Bandy World Championship]] for men is arranged by the FIB and was first held in 1957. It was held every two years starting in 1961, and every year since 2003.

Currently, the record number of countries participating in the World Championships is twenty (2019). Since the number of countries playing bandy is not large, every country which can set up a team is welcome to take part in the World Championship. The quality of the teams varies; however, with only six nations, Sweden, [[the Soviet Union]], Russia, Finland, Norway, and [[Kazakhstan]], having won medals (allowing for the fact that Russia's team took over from the Soviet Union in [[Bandy World Championship 1993|1993]]). Finland won the 2004 world championship in [[Västerås]], Sweden, while all other championships have been won by Sweden, the Soviet Union and Russia.

The Soviet Union won all championships until 1981, when Sweden managed to break the streak of eleven straight gold medals. Sweden won again in the next tournament in 1983, but Soviet again seized the victory in 1985. The Soviet Union also won at its last two appearances, and then Sweden won in 1993, 1995 and 1997. Russia, having taken over after the Soviet Union, and Sweden have kept on winning all championships between them except for 2004, when Finland managed to claim the win.

In 2020, the B division of the World Championship was played, but the A division – which was to be played about a month later – was first postponed a couple of times due to the outbreak of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and later moved to the next year as the pandemic did not end. The championship tournament could however not be played in 2021 either. In 2022, the championship was finally to be held, but since it was scheduled to be played in Russia, many national federations said they did not want to participate because of the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] and it was cancelled by the FIB since this meant there would have been too few competing teams.

====Women====
[[Image:Damebandy.jpg|thumb|Finland and Norway at the [[2004 Women's Bandy World Championship|2004 Women's World Championships]] in [[Lappeenranta#Sports|Lappeenranta]]]]
The first [[Women's Bandy World Championship|World Championship for women]] took place in [[2004 Women's Bandy World Championship|February 2004]] in [[Lappeenranta, Finland|Lappeenranta]], Finland. [[Sweden]] won the championship without conceding a goal. In [[2014 Women's Bandy World Championship|the 2014 women's World Championship]] Russia won for the first time, defeating Sweden, making it the first time Sweden did not win the world title. In 2016 Sweden took the title back.

The [[2018 Women's Bandy World Championship|2018 women's tournament]] was played in a country situated completely in Asia for the first time, when it was hosted in [[Chengde]], [[China]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rusbandy.ru/news/8728|date= 3 February 2016|title= Борис Скрынник: Приветствие Владимира Путина очень важно и для россиян, и для иностранных команд |website= rusbandy.ru }} [https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rusbandy.ru%2Fnews%2F8728 Google Translate: "Boris Skrynnik: Vladimir Putin's greeting is very important for both Russians and foreign teams"]</ref><ref>[http://www.hrbipe.edu.cn/html/JSXL/YXYDY/show-21181.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906133904/http://www.hrbipe.edu.cn/html/JSXL/YXYDY/show-21181.html|date=6 September 2017}} [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.hrbipe.edu.cn/html/JSXL/YXYDY/show-21181.html Google Translate] (dead link in October 2021)</ref> It was the same for the men's tournament that same year (the area north and west of the [[Ural River]] is located in Europe, thus Kazakhstan, which had hosted a world championship before, is a [[List of transcontinental countries|transcontinental country]]), when [[Harbin]] hosted [[2018 Bandy World Championship|the 2018 Division B tournament]].

The [[2020 Women's Bandy World Championship|2020 championship]] saw China withdraw its participation due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], but the tournament was held in Norway in February and the pandemic had not yet reached Europe. In [[2022 Women's Bandy World Championship|2022]] when the championship was played in Sweden, China did not yet return, while Russia and Ukraine both withdrew because of the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]].

====Youth====
There are also [[Youth Bandy World Championship]]s in different age groups for boys and young men and in one age group for girls. The oldest group is the under 23 championship, [[Bandy World Championship Y-23]].

===Olympic Movement===
During most of the 20th century, a host nation for Olympic Games had the right to arrange demonstration games for almost any sport of its own choosing. In 1952, the Winter Olympic Games were arranged in Oslo, Norway, and the Norwegians presented bandy as a demonstration sport. The tournament of [[bandy at the 1952 Winter Olympics]] was played by three countries, Norway, Finland and Sweden. This is the only time bandy has been played at Olympic Games.

Bandy was officially recognized by the [[International Olympic Committee]] (IOC) under the [[Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations]] (ARISF) in 2004, and was [[Bandy at the 1952 Winter Olympics|played]] as a [[demonstration sport]] at the [[1952 Winter Olympics]] in [[Oslo]]. However, it has yet to officially be played at the [[Winter Olympics|Olympics]].

According to the [[Federation of International Bandy|FIB]], bandy is the world's second-most participated winter sport after [[ice hockey]] based on the number of participating athletes.<ref name="worldbandy.com"/><ref name=FIBOct16/><ref name="Bandyportföljen' pp. 12-13"/> It is unclear how many of the players participate in the male category and how many in the female category. The FIB has also recorded bandy (men's) as having ranked as the number two winter sport in terms of tickets sold per day of competitions at the sport's world championship.<ref name=FIBOct16/>

However, compared with the seven [[Winter Olympic sports]], bandy's popularity among other winter sports across the globe is considered by the [[International Olympic Committee]] to have a, "gap between popularity and participation and global audiences", which is a roadblock to future Olympic inclusion.<ref name=bid>{{cite web|url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1061027/new-sports-face-struggle-to-be-added-to-winter-olympic-games-programme-ioc-warn|title=New sports face struggle to be added to Winter Olympic Games programme, IOC warn|last=Butler|first=Nick|date=4 February 2018|website=Insidethegames.biz|publisher=Dunsar Media|access-date=17 June 2018}}</ref>

In addition, the [[Olympic Charter]] requires a sport to be widely practiced by men in at least 75 countries and on four continents, and by women in no fewer than 40 countries and on three continents in order to be accepted.

FIB president [[Boris Skrynnik]] lobbied for bandy to be included in the [[2014 Winter Olympics]] in Sochi, given Russia's prominence in the sport.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/sports/olympics/29bandy.html|title=It's Not Hockey, It's Bandy|date=29 January 2010|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Members of the [[Chinese Olympic Committee]] were present at the 2017 world championships to meet with Skrynnik about the possibility of considering the sport for the [[2022 Winter Olympics]] in Beijing.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://tass.com/sport/929068|title=Bandy has chances to be included into 2022 Winter Olympics - FIB President|work=TASS|access-date=7 August 2017|language=EN}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bandy: How Sweden's little known sport is winning fans |url=https://www.thelocal.se/20160229/bandy-how-swedens-little-known-sport-is-winning-converts |newspaper=[[The Local]]|date=29 February 2016|access-date=25 September 2016 }}</ref> However, in 2018 it was announced no new sports would be added for 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1061156/ioc-confirm-no-new-sports-will-be-added-to-beijing-2022-programme|title=IOC confirm no new sports will be added to Beijing 2022 programme|last=Butler|first=Nick|date=7 February 2018|website=Insidethegames.biz|publisher=Dunsar Media|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref>

====Asian Winter Games====
[[File:Bandy in Medeu Kazakhstan.JPG|thumb|The final of the [[Bandy at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|bandy tournament at Asian Winter Games]] at [[Medeu]] between [[Kazakhstan national bandy team|Kazakhstan]] and [[Mongolia national bandy team|Mongolia]]]]
At the [[Bandy at the 2011 Asian Winter Games|2011 Asian Winter Games]], open to members of the [[Olympic Council of Asia]], men's bandy was included for the first time. Three teams contested the inaugural competition, and Kazakhstan won the gold medal. The [[President of Kazakhstan]], [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]], attended the final.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bandynet.ru/v1/node/14931|title=an article in Russian at bandynet.ru through Google Translate|website=bandynet.ru|date=2011|access-date=21 February 2015|archive-date=21 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221111439/http://bandynet.ru/v1/node/14931|url-status=dead}} (dead link 2021-10-11)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sports.ru/images/object_12.1297268592.00095.jpg|title=Image of President Nursultan Nazarbayev attending the 2011 Asian Winter Games final|website=sports.ru}}</ref>

There was no bandy competition at the next Games, the [[2017 Asian Winter Games]] held in Japan.

===Winter Universiade/Winter World University Games===
Bandy made its debut at the Winter Universiade during the [[Bandy at the 2019 Winter Universiade|2019 Games]] in Krasonyarsk, Russia. Originally a six-team tournament for men and a four-team tournament for women were planned to be held.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bandyforbundet.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Winter-Universiade-2019B.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://bandyforbundet.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Winter-Universiade-2019B.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade - The Gateway to the Olympics|date=29 June 2018|website=www.bandyforbundet.no/|access-date=14 October 2018}}</ref> However, later China withdrew from the men's tournament and was supposed to be replaced by Belarus.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rusbandy.ru/news/12775/ |title="Bandy at the Universiade" (from Russian through Google Translate) | publisher= rusbandy.ru | date= 7 February 2019 | access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref> Since that did not happen either, participating teams among women were Russia, Sweden, Norway and the United States, while among men Russia, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Kazakhstan.

In 2019, the [[International University Sports Federation]] expected bandy to be a part of the [[2023 Winter World University Games]] (Winter World University Games being the new name of the Winter Universiade) too,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://tass.ru/sport/6178006 |title=FISU рассчитывает, что хоккей с мячом будет представлен в программе Универсиады-2023 |publisher=Tass.ru |date=2019-03-02 |access-date=2019-06-10}}</ref> however, this did not turn out to be so, as the hosts in Lake Placid, USA, did not included it in its schedules and no bandy teams were invited to the games.

===World Cup===
The World Championships should not be confused with the annual Bandy World Cup competitions. The World Cup is for club teams.

====Men====
The [[Bandy World Cup]] for men in [[Ljusdal Municipality|Ljusdal]], Sweden, has been played annually since the 1970s and is the biggest bandy tournament for elite-level club teams. It is played indoors in [[Sandviken Municipality|Sandviken]] since 2009 because Ljusdal has no indoor arena. It is expected to return to Ljusdal once an indoor arena has been built. World Cup matches are played day and night, and the tournament is played in four days in late October. The teams participating are mostly, and some years exclusively, from Sweden and Russia, which has the two best leagues in the world.

The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] led to the Cup being cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

====Women====
There is also a club competition for women's bandy teams called [[Bandy World Cup Women]]. Its inaugural year was in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bandysidan.nu/tavlinginfo.php?sprak=eng&land=3 |title=Bandysidan |publisher=Bandysidan.nu |access-date=9 April 2014}}</ref>

===European Cup===
The [[European Cup (bandy)|European Cup]] was first played in 1974 and was a competition featuring the national men's champion team from any European country which had a national bandy championship. This meant, at the time, that only four teams competed every year, which were the men's champions from Finland, Norway, the Soviet Union, and Sweden. After the Soviet Union had been dissolved in 1991, the Russian champions took part instead. The cup is not formally defunct, but the last installment was played in 2009.

===4 Nations Tournament===
The [[Federation of International Bandy]] usually arranges a four nations tournament every year between national teams from Norway, Finland, Russia and Sweden. The 2022 tournament was originally set for 21–23 January, but was cancelled after the [[Swedish Bandy Association]] announced they would not be hosting it for that season.

===Rossiya Tournament (Russian Government Cup)===
During the period 1972–1990, the [[Rossiya Tournament]] was held semi-annually for national teams in the years when there was no world championship. This tournament was always played in the Soviet Union and arranged by the newspaper ''[[Sovetskaya Rossiya]]''. It was affectionately called "the small world championship". From 1992 the tournament was renamed [[Russian Government Cup]]. The last instalment was played in 2012.