The Swiss announced this during the ongoing World Championships in Russia, where the Finns have swept past Denmark 5-1 to reach the semi-finals.

The European nation acted as co-hosts with Sweden of both the 2012 and 2013 editions, with the semi-finals and final of the former event held in Helsinki's Hartwall Areena.

But they have not hosted the event outright since 2003, when Helsinki, Tampere and Turku co-hosted an edition won by Canada.

They also hosted the annual event in 1965, 1974, 1982, 1991 and 1997.

Finland has also already been awarded the 2019 Women's World Championships.

Fasel also acknowledged that Belarus "did so well with the tournament in 2014 that there is a very good chance at some point in the future the World Championships will return there as the country intends to apply for hosting another World Championship in Minsk".

The nation would like to host the event once again in 2022, BelTA have reported.

Latvia, host of the 2006 IIIF World Championships, is also reportedly interested.

The next four editions of the Men's World Championships have already been awarded.

Cologne and Paris will co-host a Franco-German edition in 2017, while Denmark, Slovakia and Switzerland will then have hosting rights in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively.

It is not yet clear exactly when the 2021 and 2022 editions will be officially awarded.