By Nick Butler

The 2014 womens under 18 world championships will be held in BudapestSeptember 19 - Budapest will host the the 2014 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Under-18 Women's World Championships, a move which provides further evidence of the remarkable improvements that Hungary's youngsters have made over the last year.


In what has been billed as a "fairy-tale story" the team won the 2012 Division 1A second tier event in Tromso, Norway and consequently earned promotion to the top tier Championships earlier this year in Vierumaki, Finland.

Despite being the bottom seeds alongside heavyweights such as Canada, United States and Sweden they were competitive in every game and secured a superb 2-1 overtime victory over Germany to reach the quarter-finals before eventually finishing in sixth place.

They decided to use this momentum to apply to host the 2014 event and - with none of the traditional powers applying - they were successful in their attempt.

The 2014 Junior Womens World Championships will be held at Budapests Ice Rink which first opened in 2002The 2014 Junior Women's World Championships will be held at Budapest's 'IceCentre which first opened in 2002



"When the opportunity came up, we didn't hesitate for long," said Zoltan Kovacs, general secretary of the Hungarian association.

"There is a very good feeling in the Hungarian ice hockey community right now due to the girls' positive under-18 development and since we have a perfect facility for the Championship, we decided to apply.

"We are very proud to host the best teams in the world in this category in our capital."

Budapest's IceCenter opened in 2002 in the northern outskirts of the capital and with a capacity of 2,000 it is a perfect-fit facility for next years event.

The championships are due begin next on March 23 and conclude the following weekend.