Chinese hockey team in KHL. The Chinese club Red Star Kunlun has been admitted to the KHL. Who plays hockey and where?

NEW CHINESE

“I grew up in America and graduated from Columbia University, studying business and humanities,” Liao began telling her story about herself. - My grandfather was a famous general during the Sino-Japanese War. Therefore, after studying in the States, the goal was to benefit China.

- What is the new generation of Chinese?

Typically, Chinese students do very well in the US and UK. The Chinese approach is to work hard in pursuit of improvement and success. Now the Chinese have begun to think more globally, work better in teams, while maintaining the traditions of diligent students.

- How has business changed in your country recently?

We have become closer to the world. Large companies have learned a lot from the West and are developing both intensively and extensively, using acquisitions, mergers and investments. Therefore, my focus in the field of effective foreign investments has become very popular.

- Chinese companies are increasingly present in world markets.

Unfortunately, in Europe and North America, Chinese investors are often deceived because they do not know the specifics of local marketing. Western companies know almost nothing about our country. Because I am familiar with both "worlds", I help with the location of investments in the West and believe that I am making a positive contribution to the development of our business and country.

- How did the Chinese become interested in sports?

Over time, our investors began to increasingly invest in the entertainment industry, as the population began to pay attention to improving living standards and good entertainment content - films, TV series and, of course, sports broadcasts. All this is becoming even more in demand in China. I am well aware of the needs of the Chinese market and the preconditions for investment in this area.

September 5. Beijing. "Kunlun" - "Admiral" - 6:3. Rudy Ying (left) during the Chinese anthem. Photo photo.khl.ru

KUNLUN

- How did you end up in hockey?

I was appointed president "Kunlun Red Star" so that the club’s performance in one of the world’s strongest leagues will contribute to the successful development of hockey in China. The club plays a vital role in Chinese-Russian relations. This project, like the vast majority of international projects in China, is aimed at successful performance at the 2022 Olympics. Our winter sport is just beginning to develop. At this stage we don't have enough professional athletes and staff. For the Chinese market and audience, this is a completely unknown area. Having secured the support of the governments of the two countries at the highest level, we aimed our project at a significant breakthrough winter sports in China, as well as attracting and informing mass audiences.

- How does hockey help in the development of international relations?

KHL matches take place in eight countries, including China. Sport has become a tool of sports communication between them, completely new and interesting for us. Our country has never played in an international league of this level before. Performance in Continental League will help to establish connections through culture and sports, our athletes to improve, as well as the entire club and the hockey industry in the country to develop in order to reach the world level by 2022.

- How is this development planned?

The Continental League is played by high-level professionals, and we have gathered the best Chinese players to play in it. In addition, together with the Chinese Sports Administration (analogous to the Ministry of Sports. - Note auto.) and the hockey federation, we organized a viewing of players from the national teams under 20 and under 18 years old. Our efforts are aimed at raising the general level of hockey players in the country and training personnel for the main Chinese national team, so that talented young people can prove themselves at the upcoming Winter Olympics.

- What short-term goals does the club face?

We hope for the team to make it to the playoffs. The whole team works hard together to achieve more. I think it is useful to develop sports team towards self-sufficiency. This does not contradict the main line of the country's successful preparation for the Winter Olympics. Sports marketing in China is not developing along the traditional American path. Since the government controls most of the sports industry, you have to be careful.

- How can you make money from the club in these conditions?

The hockey club is part of a holding company of several companies in various areas, including sports marketing and others. And we plan to develop other areas to make the project successful. Perhaps the club itself cannot pay for itself yet. The main thing is to attract investment in sports marketing. We hope that with the help of our and the Russian government, we will not be just a team about which they say: “They are rich and can afford to spend a lot of money.” We are ready to invest carefully to make the club the main symbol of our entertainment industry. The ultimate dream of our hockey players is a career in the KHL. We are ready to use other areas of business for the comprehensive development of the club in order to fully utilize the opportunities of sports marketing.

ATTENDANCE

- How do you plan to cope with low attendance at home matches in Shanghai?

Essentially, we create marketing and create new audiences. Our team is based in Beijing, but as a Chinese team in the KHL, we have to play many home games in Shanghai. Growing in two different markets is even more difficult. I hope in Russian media will be able to tell how difficult it is to attract the attention of a completely new audience, because in China people are not accustomed to going to sport's event in your free time or with your family. In addition, our sport seriously lags behind football and basketball in popularity.

- In what ways do you attract the audience?

We mobilized work on local television and most sports electronic platforms to tell people about hockey. Famous hockey personalities can help with brand development by telling why they chose this sport and what the KHL is. Our target audience is university students, sports fans, especially football and basketball fans in Beijing and Shanghai, foreigners and tourists. They are used to watching sports, and we will accustom them to hockey. Although we have done a lot of work, it does not compare with the progress in other more developed countries in terms of hockey - Russia and others where hockey is national species sports

- What instruments attract young people?

An important part of our project is teaching children hockey with kindergarten and up to 18 years of age. Kunlun's performance in the KHL will increase its popularity among the young population. This may take some time, because even the National hockey league came to China only three years ago.

- How can the KHL overtake in Asia?

The advantage of the KHL is that a Chinese team plays in the league, as well as the proximity of the region. Either way, with the current government support and hopefully media coverage, we are poised to gain momentum. You have to understand that the team was created in a few months, and it is performing well, but we are ready to continue to work hard and develop, solving many problems every day. I hope we can make hockey popular in China.

- How can the KHL develop in China?

In the future, our group of companies plans to create several KHL teams from China. This will allow more Chinese hockey players to perform at the highest level and improve. We will begin these projects as soon as we get the current one up and running.

Head coach of Kunlun Vladimir YURZINOV. Photo photo.khl.ru

SECRET OF SUCCESS

- What is behind the successful start of the regular season for Kunlun?

I think we chose the right head coach and general manager. - very experienced specialist and professionally uses best qualities players, and also competently distributes foreign and Chinese hockey players in the team. We have assembled an international team of eight different countries, including Russia, they were joined by seven Chinese. Hockey players quickly found a common language of hockey, despite their differences. I think we did a good job and we can only thank our team for a successful start, but there is always room for improvement.

- How do Chinese hockey players feel in the KHL club?

Our hockey players are fully aware and grateful for the opportunity to play in the KHL, so they work painstakingly under the guidance of a coach. The son of our celebrity returned from the North American club to play for our team. IN "Kunlun" The Chinese are also motivated by patriotism. That is why it is necessary to tell legionnaires who have made a huge contribution to success about our country.

- What do you know about Russia?

Little. I really want to learn more about it, and our project is a great opportunity for this. For me, Russia is a mysterious country with a rich history and culture. In this, China is similar to it. We do not want the world to judge us only on money or the political situation, forgetting about other areas. Cooperation between two countries with a rich past and economic power can make them stronger, and also allow our compatriots to get to know each other better. Hockey is a great opportunity for the Chinese to get to know the Russians.

- Did you know that you became popular in the Russian hockey community thanks to your page on a social network?

I didn't know about this before. After spending some time in the USA, the habit of maintaining a Facebook page remained. It’s great that the fans liked it, and now I will update it more often to tell more about the club and Chinese culture. I will be only glad of this.

Here's what they write: This Kunlun is exclusively a political project. We created the team a month before the start of the championship, when it had no arena, no roster, nothing. Of the Chinese who can hit the puck, there are a couple of people there, but also those with dual citizenship. Real Chinese play for a minute per match, if they play at all. Of. The team's website exists only in Russian and English languages, no Chinese. Do the Chinese even know about the club? The management is from Russia, the coaches too, the composition is European. But the CHINESE club is in the KHL, yeah.

Apparently this is just the beginning. But the Chinese also started buying football and EVERYTHING!

Now main sport for Chinese billionaires it's football. Over the past year, the Chinese have offered insane salaries to almost everyone famous football players peace.
Just in case, here are some of the most important Chinese transfer stories:

1. Alex Teixeira moved from Shakhtar Donetsk to Jiangsu Suning for 50 million euros. Ramirez from Chelsea followed there for 28 Eurolemons.

2. Carlos Tevez has become the highest paid player in the world, Shanghai Shenhua pays him about 40 million euros a year.

3. Diego Costa freaked out when he learned that the Chinese had offered him a salary of £30 million a year. He had a fight with Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte and missed training for three days.

4. Oscar became a Shanghai Tellays player, and Chelsea received 60 million euros for a player who did not make it into the first team.

5. Hulk left for the same Shanghai Tellays for 55.8 million euros, and Alex Witzel turned down Juventus for Tianjin Quanjian.

But the matter is not limited to buying football players; the Chinese are also buying clubs.

Italy

Football in Milan is now entirely owned by China. Last summer, Chinese retail giant Suning Holdings Group bought a 68.5% stake in Inter (including Massimo Moratti's entire stake). The company announced that it wants to make Inter stronger - and "even more international." In the summer, the Milanese bought players for 150 million euros, failed the start of the season, fired coach de Boer and are now on a 9-game winning streak - only three points separate them from the Champions League zone.

The deal to sell Milan is the Italian analogue of the Krestovsky construction project. Back in August, it was announced that the Chinese Sino Europe Sports Group would receive 99% of the club's shares. Since then, the completion date of the deal has been postponed twice (which brought Silvio Berlusconi an additional 200 million euros), and there was also information that the buyers had given false documents to the Italians. New date Milan sales - March 3, 2017.

England

The Chinese own the Premier League club West Bromwich Albion, which was bought out in September by a group of investors led by Guochang Lai (net worth about $2.8 billion). The second “Chinese” team in the Premier League could be Southampton. Lander Sports Development, a company involved in the construction of stadiums in China, wants his controlling stake. According to the latest information, the club's owners have rejected an offer of 180 million pounds and are asking for 270 million.

Chinese bosses are now in charge of three championship clubs at once. Aston Villa was bought for £76 million by Tony Xia, a businessman who studied at Harvard and Oxford. Arriving at Villa, Xia scolded the sheikhs from Man City in an interview, calling the tactic of pumping money into top transfers an unhealthy development model. In the summer, Aston Villa spent more than 60 million euros on transfers, but are only 13th in the championship. By the way, Xia was accused of faking his university achievements, and his company Recon Group was accused of fraud.

Wolverhampton were bought by investment company Fosun International last summer for £45 million. The Chinese have pledged to invest £30 million into the club over the next two years. There were also questions about this purchase: one of Fosun’s subsidiaries owns 20% of Jorge Mendes’s company Gestifute. That same summer, Mendes' client Ivan Cavaleiro moved to Wolverhampton from Monaco for £7 million, becoming the most... dear player in the history of the British. In total, 14 players joined the team.

In the fall, the Chinese company Trillion Trophy Asia bought a controlling stake in Birmingham. The club's previous owner, Hong Kong businessman Carson Yen, is now in prison for money laundering.

Chinese China Media Capital Holdings owns 13% of the City Football Group, which manages Manchester City (as well as the MLS team New York).

Spain

The development company Wanda Group bought a 20% stake in Atlético last winter. Its owner is Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China (net worth: $33 billion). The transaction amount was about 45 million euros (it could have been more if not for the huge debts of Madrid). Jianlin does not plan to spend money on best players world, he is interested in new connections and the opportunity to bring Chinese football players to the Atlético academy. Jianlin has huge plans for sports in general: he bought the largest marketing agency Infront Sports & Media for $1.2 billion. Infront has contracts with 180 media rights holders in 25 sports and hundreds of sponsorship deals. He paid another 650 million for the organizer of a triathlon under the Ironman brand.

Wang Jianlin plans to create new tournaments (including a new Champions League) and says he sees huge opportunities for growth in the sports industry in China.

At about the same time, the controlling stake in Espanyol was bought by the toy car manufacturer Rastar Group (amount - about 13 million euros). The new owners promised to get Espanyol into the Champions League and teach the heavily indebted team how to make money.

The controlling stake in Granada belongs to Chinese businessman Jian Lizhang.

The rest of the world

Where did Lyon get the money for Memphis Depay? The Chinese IDG Capital Partners helped, buying a 20% stake in the club for about 100 million euros. Lyon spends money on transfers and debt service, IDG will have the opportunity to use the Lyon brand in Asia and seats on the board of directors. The Chinese help pay not only Depay, but also Balotelli and Dante. Since the summer, 80% of Nice have belonged to a Chinese-American investment group, the team is in the Champions League zone, ahead of PSG. The Chinese also own the League 2 club Sochaux, which was bought from Peugeot, and a controlling stake in Auxerre, which is stuck in League 2.

The saddest story is that of the Dutch “Den Hag”. In the winter of 2015, Beijing businessman Wang Hui (his company recently organized the Italian Super Cup in Beijing) bought the club for about 6 million euros. The investor promised that he would take the club to Europe, but instead Den Hag almost found itself under external management due to the fact that Wang Hui missed the payment deadlines (but eventually paid).

The Chinese own 60% of Slavia Prague and the status of title sponsor of the Portuguese second league.

Finally, they got to Ukrainian football - FC "SUMY" from the second league came under the control of the investment company Smart-Mentors. The Chinese will manage the club until the end of the season, after which they will decide whether they will participate in financing the team or buy it outright.

Basketball

Don't let millions of Brazilian stars distract you English clubs- the most popular sport Basketball remains in China. Kobe Bryant has many more fans in China than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

China is the main overseas market for the NBA. Teams regularly travel there on tour, and in October the league announced that NBA training camps would be coming to China. More importantly, league commissioner Adam Silver often says that some games need to be moved up for the sake of Chinese TV audiences. Now the games are too late, if you play at least one match a week early in the morning, then in China it will be in prime time.

No one has yet been able to repeat the success of Yao Ming; right now there is not a single Chinese basketball player in the NBA. But last summer the first minority shareholder appeared. Jian Lizhang, the owner of a controlling stake in Granada, also broke into basketball, buying 5% of Minnesota.

Hockey

Here it’s clearly worth mentioning Kunlun in the KHL, but in general the Chinese also have plans for the NHL. Back in early 2016, Chinese metal packaging manufacturers O.R.G. became a sponsor of the Boston Bruins team. Additionally, in June 2015, Andong Song became the first Chinese player selected in the NHL draft. True, he has not yet played a single match for the Islanders.

In general, the Chinese also have plans for the NFL and Major League Baseball, but it will be more difficult for them to penetrate the North American market: in Europe, many more owners dream of quickly getting rid of an unprofitable asset.

MMA

Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Dana White and other UFC stars could well become clients of the Chinese company that participated in the auction. A few weeks before the WME/IMG deal was announced, ESPN reported that Dalian Wanda Wang Jianlin was in the best negotiating position. China Media Capital also participated in the auction.

Important international tournaments

Beijing will host the 2022 Olympics. Alibaba, the company of one of China's richest men, Jack Ma, has signed a deal worth about $600 million to sponsor the next six Games.

It is reported that Alibaba also wants to become a sponsor of the World Cup. Which, by the way, has never taken place in China.

Why do they need SO MUCH EVERYTHING?

1. First of all, high-tech Chinese companies enter the international market and expand their geography. Sponsorship for them is primarily an image story.

2. Expensive purchases foreign stars can justify themselves financially. Ratings for Chinese matches are growing, and the league's current TV contract (2016-2020) is worth $1.25 billion (although it is assessed as an overpayment). Organizing new tournaments can bring in a lot of money; the Chinese sports market is assessed as very promising.

3. Buying shares in foreign clubs - the opportunity to send young Chinese players to the best academies in Europe. China not only really wants to host the World Cup. He also hopes to win it someday.

Is everyone happy about this kind of spending in China?

Specifically, purchases of foreign football players - definitely not. At the end of last year, Chinese officials announced that something had to be done about the crazy spending on foreign players, otherwise it could hinder the growth of young Chinese football players (don’t forget, China wants to win the World Cup).

As a result, China invented its own limit, which now does not hinder the buying of stars, but primarily hits inexpensive Asian foreign players like Odil Akhmedov. However, in the future, Chinese officials promise to limit transfer amounts and set a salary cap.

Roman MUN

The date June 24 can now be written in red on the official KHL calendar. On this day, the Board of Directors of the Kontinental Hockey League approved the Beijing Red Star Kunlun club as a participant in the KHL championship for the 2016/17 season.

The ambitious league, which considers itself second in the world and first in Europe (in some respects - with good reason), has already expanded to the West several times, joining teams from Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia, and today it has made a huge step to the East.

Not to say that this news was unexpected. Representatives of the FHR, KHL and the team itself signed a letter of intent on March 17; all that remained was to submit the documents. However, the official announcement of the newcomer was still a big event.

Chinese hockey does not have glorious traditions or great popularity within the country, but it has something that, for example, many European hockey games lack. KHL teams, - huge money and a fantastic market in scale, in which our league will have no competitors.

Events from this day on will develop rapidly. Already on June 25 in Beijing, the KHL management will sign an agreement with Zvezda on the right to participate in the championship; this is a standard procedure for newcomers. In another five days, the final decision on the composition of the season's participants will be made.

When the formalities are settled, club representatives may reveal some information about their capabilities and future transfers, otherwise for now everything is limited to rumors and dry formulations: “Currently, the formation of the team’s composition and plans for its pre-season preparation continues.”

However, even the information that is leaked to the media allows us to assert that the financial support of “Red Star” will be at the level of the strongest KHL teams. According to experts, salaries in the Beijing club, which can be called a kind of national project, will be on average twice as high as in Russian teams KHL.

In addition, the tax system in China is loyal to sports. For example, in 2016, Chinese football clubs spent three times more on transfers than English Premier League clubs. This trough will probably give something to hockey.

These guesses were partly confirmed by the president of the FHR. In an interview with Sportfact, he said that Red Star Kunlun will be an economically wealthy and international club for which Russian and Canadian hockey players will play.

Among the potential newcomers to the Beijing team, the media mention the names of three Gagarin Cup winners - Ilya, and.

Kovalchuk, due to conflicts and unsuccessful play, was removed from SKA in the current Gagarin Cup, but the management of the St. Petersburg club has so far denied his departure.

Thus, the SKA president emphasized that Kovalchuk will not leave the club this summer, and a member of the board of directors called this information “ridiculous.”

There is also no certainty about Metallurg Magnitogorsk forward Danis Zaripov. The club president called his possible transfer “rumors” and noted that the issue of luring players to the KHL is not an issue.

But with leadership new team everything is more or less clear. The post of general manager at the club will be taken by the ex-general director of the Moscow “Wings” and the Chelyabinsk “Traktor”, and the head coach, according to media reports, should be Vladimir Yurzinov Jr., who won silver medals in the Russian championship at the head of “Salavat”.

On this moment There are six foreign clubs in the KHL - Jokerit, Medvescak, as well as Minsk in the Western Conference and Barys in the Eastern.

Two more teams, the Ukrainian Donbass and the Czech Lev, left the league for various reasons.

You can get acquainted with other news, materials and statistics on the Continental Hockey League, as well as in the sports department groups on social networks

On August 30, a presentation of the Chinese hockey club Red Star Kunlun, the first Chinese club in the KHL, took place in Beijing. The club was represented in the House of People's Assembly. The presentation was attended by players coaching staff and managers, as well as honored guests, including the Chairman of the China International Center for Cultural Communications Long Yuxiang, the head of the Center winter species sports at the General Administration of the People's Republic of China for Physical Education and Sports Zhen Hongguo and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the People's Republic of China Andrey Denisov.

Let us remember that the decision to create a Chinese team in one of the strongest leagues of the old world was discussed at the level of top officials last year. And already in June 2016, an official document was signed between the KHL and hockey club“Red Star of Kunlun” about the team’s performance in the KHL championship since the 2016-2017 season. The federations of Russia and China confirmed their obligations to provide the necessary support for the subsequent development of the club, holding matches and the creation of a hockey school on the basis of the Red Star Kunlun HC.

As noted in the KHL, the entry of the Chinese club into the strongest hockey league in the Eurasian space will be significant milestone in developing cooperation between China and Russia, as well as with other countries, especially against the backdrop of the fact that the 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Beijing.

During the presentation of the Red Star of Kunlun in Beijing, our correspondents were able to talk with the guests and find out what they thought about the prospects of the Chinese club.

Long Yuxiang, Chairman of the China International Center for Cultural Communications, said:

“China has become a unique platform for the development of not only hockey, but also any other sports, which we are very happy about. We hope that together with the Russian side we will be able to increase the interest of ordinary citizens in winter sports.”

Note that the Continental Hockey League was formed in 2008. This is an open international hockey league that unites hockey clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Latvia, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland. Teams from these countries annually compete for the main trophy of the league - the Gagarin Cup. Since the 2016/2017 season, there have been 29 teams in the league.

The head of the Winter Sports Center at the General Administration of Physical Education and Sports of the People's Republic of China, Zhen Hongguo, said:

“Exchanges in the field of physical education and sports are an important part of international cultural exchanges. We hope that the entry of the Kunlun Red Star club into the KHL and the holding of the Winter Olympic Games in 2022 will contribute to the development of winter sports in China.”

For the Chinese side, the club's entry into the KHL can really play a key role in the spread of hockey and other winter sports in the country. If at least five percent of the population becomes seriously interested in hockey, it will be a great success for China. And this possibility is quite real, especially given the fact that this issue is supervised at the highest government level. Thus, the final match of the Olympic tournament in Sochi between Canada and Sweden was watched by 120 million Chinese viewers. It remains to be seen how many people will watch the Chinese team's matches.

Ambassador Russian Federation in China Andrey Denisov said:

“One of the main differences between modern Russian-Chinese relations is their diversity. We are constantly looking for new projects and together we open new areas, new areas and cooperation. One of these powers is sport. The participation of the Chinese club in the games of the Continental Hockey League will not only create new opportunities for the popularization of this water sport in China, but will also become important in preparing China’s national sport of hockey for the 2022 Olympics.”

The coaching staff of the Red Star Kunlun club was headed by Vladimir Yurzinov Jr., who enjoys high authority in international hockey and has extensive experience working with KHL clubs, foreign leagues, as well as various national teams. Here's what he said about the club:

“We try to attract as many Chinese hockey players as possible. In order for them to learn and gain experience in European... Because in the future we would like to have more and more Chinese crayfish in the team every year. Because we believe that the most important goal is the national team that will compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing.”

The home arena of HC "Red Star Kunlun" became sports complex“Mastercard Center”, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics and ready to accommodate up to 18 thousand spectators. The team includes players from Russia, Europe and North America, however, as noted Main coach"Red Star Kunlun", the main focus will be on Chinese athletes.

The first game of the Kunlun Red Star club in the championship will take place on September 5 in Beijing. The Chinese team will host the Admiral team from Vladivostok.

We are talking not only about figure skating and short track speed skating - disciplines in which Chinese athletes traditionally show good results, but also about sports that are less common in China, such as hockey.

According to the strategy developed by the General Administration for Physical Education and Sports of the People's Republic of China, the main idea of ​​holding the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in 2022 is to popularize previously unpopular winter sports among more than 300 million Chinese citizens. The task of disseminating such disciplines as skiing, bobsled and ski jumping, will largely fulfill olympic city Zhangjiakou, located 200 km from the capital, is already ready to host snow slopes. But with team events In sports, especially with hockey, the situation is much more complicated.

The 2022 Olympics will feature 12 hockey teams (8 of which will take places in the IIHF rankings), as well as the winners of three qualifying groups and the host country, that is, China. The title of “capital” of the Winter Olympic Games implies mandatory participation in the tournament by the Chinese national hockey team, which currently ranks only 38th in the IIHF world rankings. The figure is by no means high, so in order to increase the competitiveness of the hockey team by 2022, the Chinese authorities have seriously taken up the creation of a strong team.

Today's successes international competitions It’s too early for Chinese hockey players to boast. The only team from China plays in the Asian Hockey League - China Dragon, which has collected all the anti-records in the AIHL. The team was formed in 2007, the Chinese Hockey Association assembled the “best of the best” from the two strongest teams: “Hosa” (Harbin) and “Changchun-fuao” (Qiqihar). As a result of negotiations between the Chinese Hockey Association and the San Jose Sharks (teams from the NHL), it was decided to strengthen the Chinese national team with five players and three coaches from the NHL, the team was called the China Sharks. However, all efforts went to waste: despite the fact that the team slightly improved its level, in terms of the difference in goals scored/missed, it remained “at the bottom” standings, surpassing only the Japanese club Nikko Icebugs. In 2009, China Sharks lost financial support from the West, and the team was renamed China Dragon. Last season, the Chinese club managed to win only 7 victories in 48 matches.

An important step in development national hockey was the entry of the Chinese club into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)

An important step in the development of national hockey was the entry of the Chinese club into the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The decision to create a Chinese team in one of the strongest hockey leagues was discussed at the level of top officials, and in October last year the KHL working group visited the “hockey” cities of the Middle Kingdom. During the visit, the Russian delegation visited Shanghai, Harbin and Beijing, where they got acquainted with the local hockey infrastructure and attended youth competitions. The purpose of the visit was to assess further prospects for cooperation between the League and Chinese clubs. A little later, it became known that the President of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Continental Hockey League Gennady Timchenko and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chinese hockey club "Red Star-Kunlun" Yang Yun signed a protocol on China's performance in the KHL. According to the document, to participate in the series of games next KHL season, the Red Star-Kunlun club is obliged to provide financial guarantees of the minimum amount of funding until the end of April 2016, as well as fulfill all the conditions for participation in the League, comply with the rules and regulations provided for by the KHL Regulations. There is no doubt about the financial guarantees of the Chinese club - the taxation system in China is quite loyal to sports, which is well proven by the activity of the Chinese football clubs, who spent over 203 million euros in the winter transfer window and overtook the most prestigious English Premier League in terms of this indicator. Thus, according to forecasts, the expected budget of Red Star-Kunlun will be comparable to the budgets of the richest KHL teams, such as SKA, Ak Bars and the capital CSKA. Chinese club will be based in Beijing, the home arena should be the Mastercard Center sports complex, built for the 2008 Summer Olympics and designed for 18 thousand fans.

Chinese fans hope that the new Chinese club in the KHL will be able to collect good team. Chairman of the KHL Board of Directors Gennady Timchenko said that the KHL newcomer - the Beijing Red Star-Kunlun - will be provided with special conditions for recruiting hockey players. And we will, first of all, talk about athletes from North America and, possibly, players from Russia. However, hockey fans believe that the Chinese club will choose the North American vector of development, the reason for this is the offer of a work contract to the Canadian hockey coach Mike Keenan, who won many trophies during his career, including the Stanley Cup and the Gagarin Cup. If the Chinese club manages to put such an experienced coach at the helm, this will significantly increase the club's chances of performing at its best. high level. However, according to the regulations, in addition to foreign stars, athletes with Chinese passports must also play in the club.

Given the low level of play in regional hockey clubs, the problem of finding professionals is quite acute. But it can also be solved. Every year in China, interest in getting an education abroad is growing; many young junior hockey players go to study in Canada and the USA, and after graduation they stay to play in local clubs. An example is 19-year-old Andong Song, who moved from China to Canada at the age of 10, played for local clubs for a long time, and was later noticed by the New York Islanders hockey club. To date, Song is considered the first ethnic Chinese in the NHL. It is possible that Red Star-Kunlun will be able to bring back young players or naturalize players with Chinese roots.

Interesting: By the way, prices for classes and equipment in China are not very different from Russian ones: the average price of a uniform is about 65 dollars, the price of one lesson in a section is 30 dollars, in Russia the cost of equipment is slightly lower - around 55 dollars, but classes cost more expensive - 30-35 dollars

The entry of Chinese clubs into the KHL is beneficial both to the League itself and to the PRC. Performance national team in the KHL contributes to the popularity of hockey in the country, and will also help in creating a competitive national team that can perform well at the home Olympics. In turn, the KHL will receive a huge market. By the way, interest in hockey in China is last years is constantly growing, as evidenced by television ratings during the hockey finals Olympic Games in Sochi: the Canada-Sweden match was watched by over 120 million Chinese, while at home only 15 million TV viewers were rooting for Canada. It’s hard to imagine how many TV viewers will be glued to the screens if sooner or later the Chinese team makes it to the finals.

Matches involving the Chinese team in the KHL will be of no less interest. Thus, about 800 thousand Chinese watch NHL games, and this is despite the morning broadcast. It is worth noting that the NHL has long been trying to “strengthen itself” in China, in addition to creating sports schools and camps, NHL clubs organize tourist trips to matches in the United States. In addition, several clubs are planning to send their players to participate in the local league. Perhaps such competition will benefit the KHL. The Youth Hockey Development Program can also contribute to this. The Ministry of Sports of China and Russia, the FHR and the KHL are in constant dialogue. It is planned to create a youth team, which may play in the MHL (Youth Hockey League). And in the youth team, preference will be given to local players rather than to foreign players.

As for junior hockey in China itself, only three teams competed at the 2014-2015 U18 national championship: Harbin, Qiqihar and Beijing. The northern teams (Harbin and Qiqihar) are significantly inferior in technique to the young Beijing hockey players. One of the key advantages of the Beijing team is the participation of 9 young hockey players who were trained in the USA and Canada, where intensive training newcomers. Even if we compare the number of matches played per year, “over the hill” young people participate in more than 100 official matches, and the guys from Chinese clubs cannot earn such practice even in 5 years. It is also interesting that in the capital, children begin playing hockey at the age of 4-5, and children from the northern regions of China enroll in the hockey section at the age of 7-8, although it is believed that children from the northern provinces are stronger and taller. As for the number of competitions at the city level, Beijing is the leader here too. Thus, about 730 matches take place in the capital during the annual city junior training camp, in which 1,745 young athletes take part.

Perhaps the more active development of hockey in Beijing is influenced not only by image" Olympic capital", but also other factors. Firstly, the abundance sports infrastructure, soon especially to popularize hockey and figure skating construction of 16 is planned in Beijing ice arenas and about 50 from indoor skating rinks, and in total there are 64 outdoor and 48 indoor skating rinks in China. For comparison: in Russia at the beginning of 2016 there were 2,553 outdoor and 450 indoor skating rinks. Secondly, the capital is the leader in the number of middle class, and these are people who can afford to buy their children expensive hockey equipment and pay for classes.

Today the Youth Hockey League has 708 players. Of course, the numbers are not that impressive, but everyone knows what Chinese athletes are capable of, especially with the support of the country's top leader: Chinese President Xi Jinping recently admitted that hockey is his favorite winter sport.