Famous civil servant and hockey expert Leonid Weisfeld told that he supports completely abolishing the non-Legionnaire limit in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
On Wednesday, the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF) announced that it would consider reducing the limit on the number of foreign players to five for the 2024/25 season. Starting from the 2023/24 season, Russian teams in the Fonbet KHL Championship cannot include more than three foreigners in the application for matches. The KHL has contacted the Russian Sports Ministry with a proposal to increase the limit on foreign athletes. The FHR coaches council unanimously opposed this.
— My opinion is that the debate on the limit is going in the wrong direction, everyone is wondering whether three or five are needed. I recently read an interview with Bykov, he was the only one who said: “What do you want to achieve with this?” In my opinion, the main task of the KHL is to attract people to the stands, to television and to popularize hockey. To attract people, you need a quality product. Ideally this would remove the limit, but five people is also good. I’m surprised the limit was reduced to three, we were already suspended everywhere and we’re still isolating. After all, what is a limit? This is the maximum number, you can take five, three, or not take any at all (legionnaires).
I also don’t understand the message regarding the education of young players: they must be brought up in other leagues. Hockey players should be trained in VHL, MHL and children’s schools. And the KHL is the top of the pyramid. Where is she going to train the hockey players, in space or something? In my opinion, KHL should receive a finished product in order to develop viewer interest. Maybe someone pursues other goals, then we can even limit the number of foreign players,” Weisfeld told .
Watch live broadcasts of the Fonbet KHL Championship playoff matches on the Match Group channels, matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
