Sweden Player Ruled Ineligible

Sweden will lose defenseman Ulf Samuelsson in the Olympic men’s hockey tournament because of a citizenship problem but won’t have to forfeit its two victories, the International Ice Hockey Federation decided Tuesday.

The decision means there will be no reordering of the Olympic quarterfinal matchups, which would have happened if Sweden had been required to forfeit its points so far.

The federation ruled after learning that Samuelsson, who plays for the NHL’s New York Rangers, has valid passports from both the United States and Sweden, federation spokesman Paolo Ianieri said. Under Swedish law, that means he is not a Swedish citizen.

Samuelsson has confirmed he has two passports, said Richard Fagerlund, president of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation.

“He was not aware that was not allowed,” Fagerlund told Swedish news organizations. “It was news for me too.”

Sweden plans to appeal the federation’s decision, Swedish news reports said.

If Sweden had been required to forfeit its two victories, it would have dropped from second place to fourth in its pool and would have faced unbeaten Russia instead of Finland in the quarterfinals.

The United States would have moved up from third to second, avoiding the Czech Republic and dominating goaltender Dominik Hasek and playing less formidable Finland instead.