Dhe Continental Hockey League (KHL) denials came quickly. Instructions to clubs to support the war in Ukraine? Never existed, said the Russian ice hockey league. René Fasel, President of the World Federation IIHF from 1994 to 2021, is now employed as a consultant? That is also not true: “Fasel is not and was not an employee of the KHL and has never provided services to the organization.”
The current IIHF leadership in Zurich will probably not be convinced by the statements. The Russians and Fasel, a decades-long solid alliance that pulled the strings in world hockey — have officially fallen out of favor. On Thursday, the IIHF announced that it had turned on its ethics committee. She is to investigate whether the reports are true, according to which the Russian Ice Hockey Federation RIHF “allegedly sent instructions to teams in the KHL to take demonstrative measures in support of the war between Russia and Ukraine”. If so, it would be a violation of the IIHF Code of Ethics.
Whether the order came from headquarters or not, the fact that the KHL stands firmly by Putin’s side cannot be denied. Current pictures are circulating on the Internet, showing a large banner with the inscription “Putin – our President” behind the players’ bench at CSKA Moscow, a picture of Putin behind that of Spartak Moscow or a glowing Z, the symbol in support of the Russian army, on the Showing video cubes at AK Bars Kazan. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, ice hockey is a national sport in Russia and the KHL has been a kind of state league with political tasks since it was founded in 2008.
Financed by public funds, oligarchs close to the Kremlin and state-owned corporations, they were supposed to counteract the North American NHL with an equally strong European league under Russian leadership. But the success is manageable, the expansion plans in the west mostly failed, since the beginning of the war the teams from Helsinki and Riga have been out, as well as numerous players from western nations.
One of the biggest KHL supporters for many years: René Fasel. When the KHL competed with the NHL for players, Fasel always stood by the Russians. The Swiss, who once worked his way up from refereeing to the top of the IIHF, also liked to be the guest of honor at KHL games or officiate benefit games when Putin himself went on the ice. Unlike the Champions Hockey League (CHL); the international competition of the other European leagues is another opponent of the KHL alongside the NHL.
Fasel has never attended one of the finals, although the IIHF has a 12 percent stake in the CHL. But when it came to downplaying Russian state doping, he was there. He has also never made a secret of his friendship with Putin: “Governing a country like this stably across eleven time zones and with around 100 languages is a feat. Yes, I admire him for that,” he once told the Swiss daily Blick.
In the French-language newspaper “La Liberté”, Fasel describes the current war as “a drama”. But he also said: “The West shares responsibility. The war cannot diminish my love for Russia.” He also opposed the IIHF decision to withdraw the U-20 World Championship from the Russians and to exclude their teams from all competitions: “Pure hysteria.” Because of this and because of his alleged involvement at the KHL, the IIHF Ethics Council is now also investigating him.
Fasel has been honorary president of the world association since September. The new leadership around the Canadian Luc Tardif seems to be uncomfortable. However, the IIHF is not quite on a confrontational course. Too much money flows through the Russians or because of them into ice hockey. So neither Russian representatives in the IIHF Council were suspended, nor was a decision made about the 2023 World Championships in Saint Petersburg. Only when that happens will it become clear whether the IIHF is serious about its emancipation from Russia and Fasel.
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