Needs elaboration: how Russia reacted to the FHR proposal to change the format of the KHL championship

“It is impossible to propose such reforms without detailed study”

In the changed realities, many Russian sports federations are exploring options for hosting national championships in such a way that the number of matches with a high level of competition remains the same.

And the Russian Hockey Federation proposed truly revolutionary amendments to the structure of the KHL regular championship.

League President Alexei Morozov said on the eve that the organization intends to introduce groups of "strong" and "weak" teams instead of the usual conferences formed on a geographical basis (Western and Eastern).

According to the functionary, back in May, the KHL sent its calendar plan to the FHR for approval.

In it, each participant was asked to play 68 matches in the regular season with one pause for the First Channel Cup in December.

The playoffs, according to the project, should start on March 1 and end on April 29. 

The federation, in response, proposed a division into two conferences (12 and 10 teams) and holding 70 matches for each team in the regular season.

At the same time, the FHR, as reported by the media, expects to maintain all the traditional windows for the national team in November, December and February.

The composition of the conferences was also named.

In the "strong" division, which can receive the name of Vladimir Yurzinov, it is proposed to determine: CSKA, Metallurg, Tractor, SKA, Salavat Yulaev, Dynamo Moscow, Avangard, Spartak, Ak Bars , Severstal, Lokomotiv and Minsk Dynamo.

The "weak", which can be named after Alexander Yakushev, will respectively fall: "Siberia", "Neftekhimik", "Torpedo", "Barys", "Motorist", "Amur", "Vityaz", "Sochi", " Admiral" and "Kunlun".

It is assumed that teams from different conferences will not lose the opportunity to meet with each other, but will only do it twice in the regular season, at home and away, and the rest of the time they will be forced to face rivals from their own league.

On Saturday, June 18, the FHR confirmed this information, including the composition of the conferences and their possible names.

However, they urged not to focus on the issue of dividing teams into “strong” and “weak”, emphasizing that the distribution is planned to be carried out according to the results shown in the 2021/22 season.

“The proposal of the federation is aimed at raising the level of the championship, strengthening competition.

At the same time, everyone gets a chance to fight for the main prize - the Gagarin Cup, ”the organization’s website says.

However, Alexey Morozov said the day before that the league considered the proposal of the federation incorrect.

“We believe that it is impossible to propose such reforms a few weeks before the start of the championship without detailed study and without taking into account the opinions of all clubs.

The distribution of participants to conferences before the start of the championship based on the results of only the past season will violate the principle of sports.

Refusal to take into account the geographical location of clubs will increase the cost of air travel, as their number will increase, ”quotes the head of RBC-Sport.

Also on Friday, the media reported that seven of the country's leading clubs (SKA, CSKA, Dynamo Moscow, Metallurg, Ak Bars, Tractor and Salavat Yulaev) supported the proposal of the FHR, but the capital's army team, Ufa and Magnitogorsk this was quickly refuted.

However, according to well-known journalist Pavel Lysenkov, the giants simply “did not want to shine,” and the federation was very surprised at Morozov’s decision to bring this topic to the public, since this was only a proposal from the FHR.

Curiously, a similar project was approved by the council of the VTB United League at the beginning of the week.

In the first part of the regular season, 12 participants will play each other in two rounds.

In the second, they will be divided into group A, which will include the six strongest, and group B. Based on the results of the regular season, eight quarter-finalists will be determined.

However, in basketball this reform went unnoticed.

A similar experiment was carried out in football.

In the transitional season 2011/12 in the RPL, which lasted a year and a half, after the standard 30 rounds, 16 teams, according to the position in the standings, formed the first and second eights, in which they had another 14 meetings in the spring.

But the RPL did not use this format anymore, preferring the usual smooth championship.

“In our vast country, dividing clubs into weak and strong is wrong”

In the hockey world, the proposal of the FHR caused a fierce discussion.

Even the first head of the KHL, Alexander Medvedev, criticized him.

According to him, the federation, in principle, should not interfere in the league calendar.

“I don’t like the notorious division into strong and weak in itself.

For example, "Motorist" for some reason was taken and attributed to the second.

Is it with a hint that Pavel Datsyuk graduated?

In our vast country, dividing clubs into weak and strong is wrong.

We already have the VHL, where the level of hockey is lower, so those who do not correspond to the level of the KHL can play there.

Moreover, it is unlikely that classifying any team as weaklings will cause a positive response from sponsors or advertisers, ”Match TV quotes Medvedev.

Two-time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Fetisov also spoke extremely categorically.

He expressed the opinion that with this reform, the FHR is actually trying to divide clubs into first and second grade, into rich and poor.

“This decision completely contradicts what the president is talking about, what the current situation dictates to us.

This is a terrible decision.

It will split society.

We try to unite, collect, and suddenly they tell us that there are faces, and everyone else has gone from here, ”Fetisov emphasized in an interview with the Championship.

In turn, the three-time world champion Alexei Tereshchenko called the introduction of the "weak" and "strong" divisions "a road to nowhere", but at the same time he considered the traditional division into East and West unviable.

“They did some bullshit.

Instead, we need to make a round robin system in the regular season, where everyone will fight with everyone.

Let's say four rounds.

And then - the playoffs ... The poorest will only do what to fly - they came up with a great idea.

On the contrary, it seems to me that no one is interested in the division into East and West.

It should be abandoned.

Especially in today's realities," Tereshchenko said.

But the well-known coach Vladimir Plushev, on the contrary, supported the proposal of the FHR.

According to him, the new format of the tournament will help the league get rid of a large number of passing matches and significantly raise the level of rivalry.

“The concentration of strong teams entails great competition, so it is necessary to determine the strong and not ... Morozov, on the one hand, says that the entertainment of hockey is falling and, if it goes like this, there will be no spectators in the stands at all, and on the other hand, he is not doing anything to change the situation ", - the specialist emphasized in a conversation with the Metaratings portal.