MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. A decision on the host country of the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship is likely to be made on Monday, January 18, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Rene Fasel told TASS.

"We will have the council meeting on Monday, [January] 18th. Then we will decide, so it can [be either] we take one or two days more, but we can also make the decision on Monday," Fasel said. "Due to the situation we have now, we already actually decided two days ago to have a council meeting as a video conference and then we will see."

"We planned to have the council on the 25th, but we will have a video conference on the 18th," Fasel said.

"If we - till Monday - can put all things together, we will do on Monday, but maybe we can do so on Wednesday, but for sure, I think, at the end of the week we will have it," he added.

On Saturday, the Czech car maker Skoda and the Nivea Men brand announced they would withdraw from sponsoring the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in case Belarus co-hosted the tournament.