FASEL: SLOVAKS REFUSED DUE TO POLITICAL REASONS

The IOC vice-president, IIHF head Rene Fasel arrived in Moscow to participate in the international forum “Russia - Country of Sports”.


On Wednesday KHL announced that HC Lev of Poprad primarily introduced to the list of participants of the tournament would not be able to play in the league though the schedule was already published.

"Unfortunately I do not know all the information of what has happened," said Fasel. "This matter does not concern me directly and I think that all the questions should be forwarded to the Slovak Hockey Federation."

"IIHF allows clubs representing different federations participate in one tournament. In KHL besides Russian clubs there are Latvian, Kazakh and Belarusian. And in the Austrian league there is a Slovenian and a Hungarian clubs."

"And I do not know what were the requirements that the Slovak Federation put forward and that prevented HC Lev from entering KHL."

"Unfortunately we cannot forget politics here. Slovaks who have quite a strong national championship do not want to put up with the KHL moving in their country. After all it is impossible to include all their clubs to the league."

"Most important in this situation is to find a common platform for development of European hockey."

"Rome has not been built in one day. I always explain to Alexandr Medvedev that we have to move on slowly, step by step. People do not want to lose their positions that they achieved in other Leagues in Europe."

"Nevertheless it is always better to negotiate than rash to battle. Swedes, Czech, Finns, Swiss and Germans have their own strong leagues that attract a lot of interest. Several million people watch matches of these championships. That is why Europeans do not see serious reasons why they should join the new league."

"I cannot say whether it is good or bad but my experience shows me that we have to find a common strategy. And it is not easy."