Athletistic / Hockey. On July 9, a meeting was held between the leaders of the Kontinental Hockey League clubs and the KHL management on the amendments to the Federal Law “On Physical Culture and Sports”. As a result, it was decided to remove the KHL from the jurisdiction of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF). From now on, the Russian league will not be guided by the opinion of the IIHF and will begin to develop as it sees fit.

The KHL was established in 2008. The league, thanks to a special agreement, received permission from the FHR to hold competitions and bear the status of the Russian championship. This agreement was constantly extended and the KHL was obliged to coordinate with the FHR the calendar, international tournaments, the limit of foreign players, and also to obtain, with the help of the federation, permission to register new hockey players. For this reason, the KHL often did not have the opportunity to make decisions that were beneficial to itself; it was forced to finish the regular season in February and the playoffs in April. This dependence on FHR greatly hampered the development of the KHL.

But in Russia, where sports are highly dependent on the state, this approach can be called normal. For the country, the successes of the Russian national team on the international stage were more important, so the KHL calendar was designed in such a way that the national team had every chance to prepare for both the World Championship and the Olympic Games. However, on July 3, amendments were made to the Sports Law, according to which professional sports leagues became independent entities. This gave the KHL a free hand.

The FHR did indeed partly slow down the development of the KHL, but it was not its antagonist. The leaders of the League and Russian hockey developed a relationship of trust, and any problem could be solved thanks to the political will of the KHL’s top officials. In 2016, the Hockey World Cup was held in Toronto. The Russian national team participated in this tournament, but its composition consisted of 90% of NHL players. The KHL reasonably considered that it was not profitable for it to take a break in the schedule. As a result, the League was able to agree that the clubs would release the hockey players called up by their national teams to the World Cup, and that the regular season would continue to be played in parallel with the matches of the international tournament.

Photo source: KHL

If it weren’t for the legal subtleties, the KHL and FHR could have extended their union. But the FHR is directly subordinate to the IIHF. But things have not been going well for the KHL lately with this organization. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the case of Ivan Fedotov.

In May 2022, Ivan Fedotov, after winning the Gagarin Cup with CSKA, decided to join the NHL. After the end of his contract with the military team, the Russian goalkeeper signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. However, in the summer, Fedotov was arrested and charged with evading military service. And this, by the way, is a criminal article. The hockey player agreed to a deal with the investigation and was forced to leave to serve in the Russian Navy for a year. Due to force majeure, the NHL froze Fedotov’s contract with Philadelphia.

After serving in the army, Ivan almost immediately signed a two-year contract with CSKA. This was a logical step on the part of the goaltender, because due to a year of inactivity, he would certainly not have played in the NHL. However, from a legal point of view, his contract with Philadelphia began after the end of force majeure. In fact, Fedotov had valid contracts with NHL and KHL teams. It was up to the IIHF to resolve this dispute.

In August 2023, the International Hockey Federation decided to disqualify Ivan Fedotov for four months due to signing a contract with CSKA. The IIHF declared his agreement with the military team invalid. Interestingly, the NHL is not a member of the IIHF and is completely autonomous from the federation, but the IIHF took its side.

But the KHL, guided by Russian legislation, allowed Ivan Fedotov to play for CSKA in the 2023/2024 season. The IIHF was very offended and began to impose sanctions, although the organization had no direct influence on the KHL. The International Federation could only put pressure on the league through the FHR. That’s what it did.

Photo source: PHC CSKA

And on May 6, 2024, the IIHF Disciplinary Committee ruled that Fedotov’s performance for CSKA during the past season violated IIHF rules on international transfers and fined the Russian Hockey Federation (RHF). In addition, sanctions were imposed on CSKA in the form of a two-year international transfer ban. This is where the IIHF went too far.

The fact is that CSKA is not only one of the flagships of Russian hockey, but also a very influential club. In every sense of the word, the military team has a strong general sponsor who can legally resolve issues as it wishes. And in the context of the IIHF’s politicized position towards Russian hockey, this was much easier. So they decided that from now on the KHL would be directly dependent on the Ministry of Sports: thus, the FHR not only had no influence on the League, but also protected itself from harm.

The most important result of the KHL’s departure from its dependence on the IIHF was the issue of transfer. Now the League no longer needs to wait for a player’s transfer card from the international federation: the KHL itself will be able to register players’ contracts.

— Legally, we were working on the question of whether or not the IIHF could prevent the transfer of players from foreign leagues. We don’t see any barriers. There are simply no regulatory grounds for sanctions from the IIHF at the moment. There is an example of how the IIHF communicates with the NHL, which is also not under the auspices of the international federation.said KHL President Alexei Morozov.

This is the principle on which the NHL has existed throughout its history. Therefore, the KHL did not offer anything new, but only repeated the path of its North American older brother.

Photo source: KHL

In addition to the contracts, the KHL is now no longer obliged to comply with the IIHF calendar. This will allow the League to create a convenient schedule, relieve pressure on the regular season and not rush to complete the playoffs by April 30. From now on, the Gagarin Cup will be held in parallel with the World Hockey Championship. You can be sure that this will further weaken the position of the IIHF and also reduce interest in the World Cup.

The IIHF overestimated its strength. The current management of the organization considered itself omnipotent and received a legitimate response. And the KHL has taken an important step towards improvement. Now, no one and nothing prevents it from making decisions that are important to it and forces it to coordinate them at different levels.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



Athletistic