BREAKING: Team Latvia in Hot Water For Illegal Activity
The IIHF Men's World Championships just wrapped up for the year, and while most of the talk has been on the gold medal-winning team Canada, Latvia may have just put themselves in a world of trouble.
Latvia Used Illegal Jersey Sponsors
The Latvian Men's National team was sponsored by the company OlyBet and wore their brand name on their jerseys as a result. The only issue is, it's illegal for online gambling services to advertise themselves in Finland (where the tournament was held) if the company is not Finnish. This makes the Latvian team wearing these patches on their jerseys illegal under Finnish law.
While the IIHF says nothing about gambling companies advertising on their jerseys, it's clear in the Finnish law what is and isn't allowed.
All Over Europe
To make matters worse for Latvia, the company that sponsored them, OlyBet, isn't even a Latvian company. OlyBet is run out of Estonia, meaning that this conflict now involves three countries, rather than just the two.
The punishment for the Latvian team is unknown at the time, but it shouldn't be taken lightly.
As Seen on Twitter
| POLL | ||
MAI 29 | 538 ANSWERS BREAKING: Team Latvia in Hot Water For Illegal Activity Should the Latvian team be disqualified? | ||
| Yes | 84 | 15.6 % |
| No | 454 | 84.4 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Zachary Werenski | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| Sean Monahan | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jesper Bratt | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Frederick Gaudreau | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Jack Hughes | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nikita Kucherov | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Mackenzie Weegar | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Kent Johnson | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Alexander Wennberg | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Mitchell Chaffee | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matthew Coronato | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Marcus Foligno | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Nick Foligno | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Conor Geekie | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brandon Hagel | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Stefan Noesen | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Corey Perry | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Igor Sharangovich | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Dmitry Voronkov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||