Lausanne Tourism and Convention Bureau has won the contract to host the 2020 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Ice Hockey Championship, which will take place in Lausanne and Zurich in April-May 2020.

The event will welcome more 10,000 spectators along with international hockey teams, media and sponsors, who will be hosted at the newly renovated Espace Malley, also hosting the 2020 Youth Olympic Games.

The three-week tournament, which last took place in Switzerland in 2009, will be organised as a joint venture between the Swiss Ice Hockey Federation and international sports marketing company Infront and will be broadcast and watched by millions around the world.

“As the Olympic capital, we’re always delighted to welcome large international sporting events to the city,” said Olivier Mathieu, Lausanne Tourism & Convention Bureau’s congress and meetings manager. “We are all very excited and honoured to be hosting the event again in 2020.

“Ice hockey is such a popular sport in the city of Lausanne and we will be so well equipped with amazing new facilities following the Winter Youth Olympic Games which will take place earlier that year.”