Ice hockey is very popular in Europe. At international championships, European teams play at a fairly high level. Considering that it needed updating for a long time, the management decided to take drastic measures.

What does the abbreviation KHL mean?

The KHL is an open international The first championship, according to all its organizers, was experimental, since it is impossible in the first year of its existence to take into account all the nuances when organizing the largest hockey league in the world. It was organized on the basis of the Russian Super League. In the KHL draw, the following are determined:

1. Championship Winner. The KHL Championship is won by the team with the most points after all regular season games.
2. Division Winner. It is revealed as a result of all regular season games.
3. Pairs of participants in the playoffs. All KHL games are drawn up in advance by the league's management. They are organized in such a way as to arouse the greatest interest in the audience.

Championship format

The KHL Championship consists of two conferences, which are divided geographically: Eastern and Western. Each conference has two divisions. Based on this, it turns out that there are 4 divisions in the KHL, each of which has 7 teams, with the exception of Chernyshev's division, since recently the Red Star Kunlun team was added there, and it became the eighth in a row.

Each KHL team must play four games against other teams in a division and two games against participants from a different division of its conference. In addition, each representative of the league will additionally play 4 games with representatives of his division.

Spectacle system

For a won match, each KHL team scores a maximum of three points. Two points are awarded to the team that was able to win in extra time or in shootouts. If a team loses in extra time or in shootouts, it only gets one point. When a team loses a match, no points are awarded.

At the end of the games, the winner of the division is the team that scored the most points. The calculation is based on absolutely all games, and not only on the results of games within the division. All results of the matches played are recorded by the KHL management.

The league table presented for teams and their fans includes statistics on the teams' performance in the conference and separately in each division.

Play-off draw

Each team playing in the KHL can participate in the first stage of the playoffs of the Kontinental Hockey League championship. To do this, she must take at least 8 places in her conference. The first two places in the playoffs are awarded to the teams that take the first places in their division. The remaining places are taken by teams in descending order of the number of points.

As a result of the drawing, the winners of the conferences will be determined first. And then these teams will fight in the final. In the Gagarin Cup, the club wins, which won all the victories in the games right through. At each stage, the participants will play a series of games up to four victories.

The first champion of the league was the Kazan "Ak Bars". This club showed strong hockey throughout the season and rightfully took all the prizes.

League expansion

The KHL is the largest in the world. Immediately after the foundation, 21 Russian teams participated in the competition, and teams from Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan played in the championship to the delight of hockey fans. The KHL is a prestigious and popular league in which many teams want to participate. Since the beginning of the foundation, the number of participants has been growing steadily.

Now there are already 29 teams in the championship. Representatives from Croatia, Finland, Slovakia and even from China were added. The list of applications for participation from different countries is growing. But not everyone meets the league's requirements.

The KHL is a prestigious league, for participation in which you need an initial contribution and stable further funding. It also requires the presence of its own stadium, which will meet the established requirements.

Many were surprised by the addition of a team from Beijing to the league. It was created specifically for participation in the KHL. The club includes Chinese stars and eighteen foreigners. The coach was appointed known to all Russian fans. Results in the first season while the team is doing poorly. But in the future it will definitely grow and compete with the giants of European hockey.

Continental is developing and striving to become better. In terms of entertainment, it is already in no way inferior to the National Hockey League. It is not for nothing that many of the leading players leave it for the KHL. Pavel Datsuk and Ilya Kovalchuk returned to their homeland after the creation of the league.

As a matter of fact:

The NHL is entirely a commercial league and does not depend on anyone other than investors, businessmen and club owners. Let's not forget to mention the players' union. The KHL is connected with the Ministry of Sports, and does everything for the Russian National Team - with the light hand of the Ministry of Sports, the regulations, the limit on legionnaires, and so on are changed, so that our hockey players occupy high places in second-rate tournaments, creating the illusion that everything is fine in domestic hockey.

The NHL has nothing to do with statesmen. In the KHL, the president of the N-th team is one of Putin's friends and a big businessman, in addition, the entire world of our elite is on the board of directors. Another team is sponsored by RosNeft, and Sechin is personally interested in its success. In general, very high-ranking officials are involved in hockey in Russia.

3. KHL, as well as hockey in general in Russia, does not pay off as a business. Only 1-2 teams profit from franchises and home games, while overseas hockey is a thriving business that brings fabulous money to club owners.

In Russia, less attendance (but in some cities only because of the spaciousness of arenas) than in America and Canada. In the NHL, the average attendance is 15 thousand, and in Russia - from 4 to 5 thousand.

KHL and NHL have different sizes of courts, which is reflected directly in the game. There are more grounds in the KHL - accordingly, hockey is not so contact, it is more combinational and sweeping. In the NHL, on the contrary, there are fewer areas - there is a more contact game, more shots on goal and less time to think. What's more spectacular is up to you.

In the KHL, the teams that take the first eight places in their conferences get into the playoffs. In the NHL, several places are allocated for the wild - card system, and sometimes teams with fewer points than their opponents end up in elimination games.

The regulations regarding the treatment of fights, power techniques, dangerous attacks and other things related to the safety of players are also different.

The NHL has richer traditions - there is a "white storm", and throwing octopuses on the ice, and so on. For much of what is allowed overseas, we would be held accountable.

And finally, any hockey player dreams of playing in the NHL. All his aspirations are to get into the best league in the world, and many regard our championship as a backup option. Many players, without having received a contract in America or Canada, go to Russia, some outstanding foreign hockey players come to us to end their careers. Of course, we are talking about great players who are on everyone's lips and in plain sight, with ambitions.

In general, with the exception of some differences, both leagues play hockey and play the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup. Do not think that the NHL is much better than our league. Russia has a peculiar atmosphere, its own developing culture of illnesses and traditions. On NHLovskie "Battle on the Hudson" and "Battle on Albert" there is an Army derby and the same Green. Of course, you shouldn't compare the level of hockey here and there, because it is different. But nothing beats going to some "Mytishchi Arena" and enjoying the fact that your team won. Here, not overseas.

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is an open international league that unites clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia and Finland. There are currently 24 teams in the league, which are divided into the Western and Eastern Conferences and 4 divisions by geography.

During the regular season, teams play 62 games each, after which the playoffs begin. The 8 best teams from each conference will get into the KHL playoffs. The main trophy of the league is the Gagarin Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the playoffs.

The idea of ​​creating the Euro-Asian Hockey League originated in the mid-2000s. For the first time in public it was voiced by Vyacheslav Fetisov in October 2005. The idea of ​​creating a league that will be independent from national federations and become commercially successful was liked by many hockey functionaries from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

As a result, the KHL was created on the basis of the Russian Hockey Super League. The first championship took place in the 2008/2009 season, in which 21 out of 24 clubs were Russian. In the future, the league was replenished with teams from Ukraine, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia, but in the past few years, the KHL leadership, on the contrary, has been reducing the number of teams.

Features of betting on the KHL

Clear superiority of several clubs

Western Conference clubs are more financially capable than Eastern Conference clubs. First of all, CSKA and SKA stand out, which in recent years have significantly surpassed other KHL clubs. The St. Petersburg and Moscow “army men” have more balanced line-ups, as a result of which the bookmakers evaluate them as favorites of almost every match.

Home Matches Factor

This factor is especially important in the playoffs, where the value of home matches is most important. According to statistics, it is the team that plays at home that wins more often. It is worth noting that in the KHL regular championship, bets on home matches when playing with opponents from another region can bring significant benefits, since long-distance flights do not always have a positive effect on hockey players' performances.

Outsiders can beat the favorite

During the regular season, surprises often occur in KHL matches. So, the underdog can easily beat the team that is in the lead in the conference. This happens especially often at the end of the season, when the leaders have already secured their place in the playoffs and are deprived of proper motivation.

How to choose a bet on the KHL

Everyone accepts bets on KHL matches. The page above contains all the information necessary for betting on the KHL: the standings, the schedule of games and the best odds for the upcoming matches. Also, free forecasts from experts and cuppers of the Legalbet website are available to everyone.

On the page of each fight, you will find the current line-ups, match results, statistics from past games and more.

If you have just recently become interested in the exciting world of hockey, then it is very likely that a lot here will not be clear to you at first. For example, what is the KHL. We will cover all the significant characteristics of the league.

What is the KHL?

KHL - Continental Hockey League. This is an international open association, whose members are hockey clubs from the Russian Federation, China, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Finland, Belarus, Latvia. Every year the teams compete for the main trophy - the Gagarin Cup. In addition to him, the Continent Cup is played. Tikhonov and the title of the champion club of Russia.

The KHL games have been running since 2008, when the league was formed. Initially, it consisted of 24 clubs. Today (season 2017/2018) their number has increased to 27.

The total attendance of the KHL games is as follows:

• Regular Championships - 3.5-5.2 million viewers in different seasons.
• Playoffs - from 450 to 600 thousand viewers.

If you look at the attendance, the most favorite teams are Avangard, SKA, Dynamo Minsk.

The Continental League includes the KHL itself, as well as the JHL (youth league) and WHL (women's league).

Formation history

In 1996, the International Ice Hockey League was disbanded: the best teams of the CIS had no choice but to participate only in national competitions. In 2005, V. Fetisov (head of the Federal Agency for Culture and Sports of the Russian Federation) proposed a league project for Russia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. It should be independent of the Professional Hockey League and the Russian Hockey Federation, and at the same time be commercially oriented, like the NHL.

For several seasons, the idea was vigorously discussed, but it was not possible to implement it. In February 2008, a decision was signed to start the Russian Open Hockey League (then ORHL was renamed KHL). What is the KHL? This is a project in which almost all the planned ideas were implemented:

• participation of both CIS teams and clubs of Z. Europe;
• certain salary ceilings;
• junior draft;
• ungrouping into divisions;
• play-off competitions up to 4 wins;
• strict requirements for the infrastructure of clubs;
• personalized cup;
• memberships of clubs belonging to the Superleague.

The KHL had a pioneer standings in the 2008-2009 season. The first goal was scored by hockey player A. Nizhiviy (“Dinamo-Riga”) against “Amur”. Initially, the participants were 21 clubs from the Russian Federation and three teams from Latvia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Ak Bars became the first champion of the KHL and the owner of the Gagarin Cup.

Geographic separation

What is the KHL? These are two conferences - Eastern and Western. Each of them has two more divisions inside - each named after the famous hockey player. As a result, we have:

• Eastern Conference.
  • Chernyshev Division:
    • Avangard from Omsk;
    • "Cupid" from Khabarovsk;
    • "Admiral" from Vladivostok;
    • "Barys" from Astana;
    • "Kunlun" from Beijing;
    • Siberia from Novosibirsk;
    • "Salavat Yulaev" from Ufa.
  Kharlamov division:
  • Ak Bars from Kazan;
  • "Avtomobilist" from Yekaterinburg;
  • "Lada" from Togliatti;
  • Metallurg from Magnitogorsk;
  • "Neftekhimik" from Nizhnekamsk;
  • "Tractor" from Chelyabinsk;
  • "Yugra" from Khanty-Mansiysk.
• Western Conference.
  • Tarasov division:
    • "Vityaz" from Podolsk;
    • Dynamo from Moscow;
    • Lokomotiv from Yaroslavl;
    • Sochi;
    • Severstal from Cherepovets;
    • "Torpedo" from N. Novgorod;
    • CSKA from Moscow.
  • Division Bobrov:
    • Dynamo from Riga;
    • Dynamo Minsk;
    • Yorkit from Helsinki;
    • Slovan from Bratislava;
    • "Spartak" from Moscow;
    • SKA from St. Petersburg.

Season structure

Let's look at the structure of the KHL competitions.

Regular season... The first stage is 56 games for each team. Of these, 52 are played twice with each opponent, plus 4 additional games are assigned to this. Points are awarded here as follows:

• 3 - for the victory.
• 2 - for a shootout or an overtime win.
• 1 - for a loss in shootouts or in overtime.

The club with the most points will win the regional championship. He is awarded the Continent Cup.

Play-off... Those teams that took from 1st to 8th place in the conferences move on to the second stage of the competition. The first 2 places are for the winners in their divisions.

At this stage, the following are determined:

• winners of the Western and Eastern Conference;
• Gagarin Cup winner;
• champion of the Russian Federation, as well as silver and bronze medalists.

In addition, the "Hope" tournament is held for those teams who took 9th and lower places at the first stage.

Trophies, awards and winners

In the KHL, the results of victories are as follows:

• Gagarin Cup - to the triumphant in the playoff competitions.
• Continental Cup - to the team that finished the regular season with the most points.
• Cup "Hope" - played among the clubs that were not included in the playoffs.
• Prize "Second" - to the players who scored the latest and fastest goal.
• Trophy named after Cherepanov for the best hockey player who played the first season in the KHL.
• "Golden Stick" - the most valuable player of regular competitions.
• Prize for the best hockey player in the playoffs.
• Special trophies for the best judge, head of the KHL club.

In conclusion, let's take a look at the absolute champions - the owners of the Gagarin Cup:

• Ak Bars - 2009, 2010
• Metallurg-Magnitogorsk - 2014, 2016
• Dynamo Moscow - 2012, 2014
• SKA - 2015, 2017
• Salavat Yulaev - 2011

So we figured out what the KHL is. The Continental League is not inferior to the NHL in terms of the spectacularity of the games, the "stardom" of the hockey players, and the professionalism of the teams.