Swedish Bandy Federation general secretary Pär Gustafsson blamed Stockholm authorities for the decision and claimed the postponement was outside of the Swedish Bandy Federation's hands.

The tournament is now due to be played from March 23 to 27 elsewhere in Sweden, at a venue yet to be determined.

The event had been due to be played from January 10 to 16 at the new Gubbängen Skate and Bandy Arena.

Several Federation of International Bandy (FIB) tournaments have been postponed because of the COVID-19 crisis, including the Men's Bandy World Championship.

Irkutsk in Russia is now due to stage the men's tournament from October 9 to 16 this year, having been postponed on several occasions and first scheduled for 2020.

The Russian venue has been allowed to remain host after the World Anti-Doping Association accepted an application from the FIB for the event to be exempt from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling which banned Russia from staging or being awarded major events for two years.

The CAS ruling said Russia should be stripped of any events it already has the right to host "unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so".

Sweden last hosted the Women’s World Championship in 2008, when the host nation triumphed in Borlänge.

Sweden have been the dominant force in women’s bandy, winning nine of the 10 World Championship events held to date.

Russia are the only other nation to have claimed the world title, after beating Sweden in the 2014 final.

Sweden will head into the 2022 tournament as the defending champions, after beating Russia 3-1 in the 2020 final in Norwegian capital Oslo.