Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka said in a television interview that he opposes allowing the Russian team to compete in the junior ice hockey world championship his country is hosting in January 2027.

“I can’t imagine the Russian anthem being played on Czech soil during this war,” Macinka told CNN Prima News.

Macinka went further, saying he considers hockey a men’s sport in general. “So our great feminists won’t be pleased when I say that this time, the championship in Czechia will do without mannish Russian women,” Echo24.cz quoted him as saying.

The host asked whether he thought such remarks were offensive, but Macinka repeated his view that hockey is a men’s sport.

Many athletes criticized Macinka’s remarks, Czech Radio reported. Tereza Sadilová, general manager of the Czech women’s national hockey team, which is currently competing at the world championship, said the players would “fight for every girl pursuing her hockey dreams” in their game against Switzerland.

Czech male hockey players also criticized Macinka. Jiří Hrdina, one of the most celebrated players in Czech hockey history, responded to the minister’s remarks with profanity.

Athletes from other sports also supported the women’s hockey players. Kayaker Vavřinec Hradilek said, “I want to support not just the women’s national hockey team, but all the female athletes who work so hard for themselves and for our country’s honor, pursuing their dreams.” Canoe slalom racer Lukáš Rohan called Macinka “an arrogant fool.”

Other cabinet members did not support Macinka either. Czech Sports Minister Boris Šťastný said women’s ice hockey dates back more than 130 years and that he deeply respects women’s sports and will always support them.

In late October, the Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared Russian male and female athletes to compete in ice hockey world championships. The International Ice Hockey Federation said it disagreed with the ruling but would try to comply. Some national teams, however, have already said they will refuse to play against Russia at the world championship in Germany. Canada, which is hosting the world junior ice hockey championship in late December, has pledged not to issue visas to the Russian team.