O2 Arena: Austria to play at the World Cham­pi­onship in this jewel box for the third time

Austria secured its place in the top division in Tampere, Finland, twice in succession. Following its appearances at the Nokia Arena, considered the world’s most modern ice hockey arena in 2022 and 2023, Austria will play at the 87th Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague, where it will rock the ice at the O2 Arena. 

Austria has mixed memories of the Prague arena, which will accommodate 17.413 fans at this year’s Ice Hockey World Championship: in 2004, the ÖEHV team of the time, led by captain Dieter Kalt and a still-young Thomas Vanek, impressed above all in the preliminary round at the Sazka Arena, as the brand-new arena built from 2002 onwards was called. Austria followed up a 6:0 victory over France with a sensational 2:2 draw against Canada.

In their final group match, Austria led Switzerland 4:1, but it ended in a 4:4 draw. A victory over the Swiss would have put Austria into the quarter-finals, as points from head-to-head encounters were still carried over into an intermediate round at the time. Austria finished eleventh in the final standings.

In 2015, the red-white-red side had to be relegated from the top division despite two shoot-out wins over Switzerland (4:3) and Germany (3:2), as it lost the head-to-head matches against Latvia (1:2 after overtime) and France (0:2).

After 2004 and 2015, the O2 Arena, where HC Sparta Prag usually plays its home games, will host an Ice Hockey World Championship for the third time. The multi-purpose arena is located around ten kilometres from the city centre in Libeň, a district in north-eastern Prague. The organisers recommend using public transport during the World Championship. 

From Prague city centre, ice hockey fans can take Line B of the Prague Metro (also known as the yellow line) towards “Černý most” (the terminus) to “Českomoravská” station. From there, the World Championship arena is just a one-minute walk away.

The arena is also well connected to Prague city centre by tram and train. The Arena Libeň jih stop serves tram lines 7 and 8 – and line 92 at night. Lines 12 and 31 – and line 94 at night – also serve the Divadlo Gong stop.

How do you get to the World Championship arena in Prague? All the information is available here

Since 2019, the O2 Arena, which welcomes 600.000 people annually at its events, has also included a modern congress centre – the O2 Universum – which hosts cultural events, congresses, conferences, business meetings and corporate events alongside sporting events.

Fan zone right next to the World Championship arena

The Czech organisers have set up a large fan zone right by the World Championship arena for international ice hockey fans. On matchdays with two games, the fan zone is open from 14:00 until the end of the evening game; on days with three games, fans can access the site from 11:00. Around 7.000 people can be accommodated there, with plenty on the programme. On World Championship matchdays, admission to the arena begins one hour before the respective game.

All information on the official World Championship fan zone in Prague

UFTA invite fans to the Austria House in Prague

There will be an Austria House in the city centre for Austrian ice hockey fans supporting the ÖEHV team in Prague. “United Fans Team Austria” – known as UFTA on the international ice hockey scene – invite fans to the opening on Sunday, 12 May at 14:00 at "Rocky O'Reillys" (address: Štěpánská 620/32, Nové Město, 110 00 Praha 1). 

This Irish pub will be the meeting point for all Austrian fans for the duration of the World Championship. After the opening ceremony, the red-white-red fans will travel together to the arena in Prague’s Libeň district for the blockbuster against Switzerland, which starts at 20:20. A traditional dress day is planned ahead of the match against Norway on 19 May. As always at international matches and World Championships, Austrian fans will create a great atmosphere!

All information on “United Fans Team Austria”