Postage stamp in honour of the Ice Hockey World Championship taking place in Latvia

To mark the start of the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in the capital of Latvia, Riga, on the 21st of May 2021 Latvijas Pasts plans to release a special postage stamp and a cover in honour of this important sporting event. The stamp features Spiky the Hedgehog, the official mascot of the championship.

The hockey championship stamp has a print run of 50,000 copies and its face value is €1.71, which corresponds to the postage of letter-post items in the weight class from 101 to 500 grams within Latvia. The release of the stamp is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,000 copies. The philatelic releases have been designed by the artist Ģirts Grīva and they feature Spiky the Hedgehog, the official mascot of this year’s championship, and the official logo of the championship.

The 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship is the 85th championship, which will be held from the 21st of May to the 6th of June this year in the capital of Latvia, Riga – Latvia is hosting the championship for the second time in the history of the event. National teams from 16 countries will participate in the hockey championship, planning to play 64 games in the tournament, which will take place at Arena Riga and the Olympic Sports Centre nearby. It is planned that the Latvian national hockey team will play seven games.

“Latvijas Pasts is a sporty company whose employees actively follow and support sports activities related to the name of Latvia, at the same time perpetuating them in postage stamps, which are valuable elements of the Latvian state. Stamps dedicated to sports are regularly included in our stamp releases, and this year’s World Hockey Championship stamp is yet another contribution of Latvijas Pasts to the international promotion of the name of Latvia and the achievements of our athletes. We hope that the new stamp depicting the symbols of the championship will be a beneficial for the athletes, as well as philatelic collectors, fans and anyone else interested,” Mārcis Vilcāns, Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Pasts, points out. The first day stamp cancellation is not being held at post offices during the spread of COVID-19 infection.