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KHL expanding further into Europe? Where are they going?

September 5, 2018, 2:02 PM ET [6 Comments]
Aivis Kalnins
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It's no secret that KHL is looking to expand further into Europe and leagues head - President Dmitri Chernyshenko has pointed out that Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, and Great Britain are amongst the countries that they're hoping to move into.

For promotional reasons, KHL announced that they will be playing regular-season games in Austria and Switzerland. First Slovan Bratislava will host CSKA Moscow and SKA St.Petersburgh in Vienna and then a month later Dinamo Riga will host the same two KHL powerhouse teams in Zurich.

It's no secret that league intends to play games in other countries as well.

''The purpose of the games in these cities is to present the KHL in new markets and territories. Our goal is to promote KHL brand in Europe as well as a demonstration of our hockey and game organization capabilities. We're moving towards the countries that we are interested in. Switzerland, Austria together with Germany, France, Sweden, and Great Britain are in our expansion plans''


It's no secret that KHL has been eyeing a team in Great Britain for quite a while and expansion will happen eventually. France and Austria, as well as Germany, have always been a top of their list for future expansion.

However for that to happen - League has to finish their ''deduction'' process and get rid of the financially underperforming teams that wouldn't be able to make progress together with the league moving forward.

This year KHL said their goodbyes to Lada Togliatti and Yugra Hantimansijsk. After the 2018/2019 season, a few more are expected to go. Realistically we could see new European squads in action around 2020.
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