Chairman of the Turkmenistan Hockey Federation, Jora Khudaiberdyev, discussed the prospects for national teams to compete internationally in 2026. The head of the federation presented a schedule of upcoming tournaments under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), as reported by the newspaper "Neutral Turkmenistan."

The youth team will be the first to take to the ice. In February, the U18 team will head to the Balkans to compete in the IIHF World Championship Division III (Group B).

"Our young men will play in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six national teams will compete for promotion: the tournament hosts, Turkmenistan, South Africa, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Thailand. For our youth team, this will be a serious test at the international level and an important step in their professional development," said Khudaiberdyev.

The main event of the season will be the senior team's performance in April. The team will travel to Cape Town to participate in the Division III tournament (Group A).

"The senior team will face serious, even arch-rivals: teams from South Africa, Türkiye, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Thailand. The goal is daunting," the federation chairman noted.

The head of the federation recalled the national team's recent success. In April 2025, at the World Championships in Istanbul, the Turkmen hockey team sensationally defeated the tournament hosts 2-1 and won the silver medal.

"This success demonstrated that Turkmen hockey has reached a qualitatively new level. Now our goal is to consolidate this achievement at the upcoming World Championship," Hudayberdyev emphasized.