On December 9, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced the launch in August of next year's Champions League tournament, which will feature the participation of 26 teams from six countries, but no clubs from the Kontinental Hockey League. KHL President Alexander Medvedev gave his reaction to the news:
“Negotiations on KHL participation in the new Champions League have been conducted almost from the very beginning of the project. We found a lot of common ground with our colleagues from the International Federation, but there was also no shortage of issues on which a compromise was difficult. An example of the latter was certainly the question of Jokerit’s participation in the 2014-15 Champions League. The club will become a full member of the KHL next season, so there are no formal obstacles barring it from representing our league in the new IIHF competition. Moreover, we have shown flexibility and offered to meet our colleagues from the IIHF halfway by adjusting our Championship schedule to leave Champions League game days free. The decision by the tournament’s Board of Directors is a surprising one, especially since the common sense reasoning behind making such a decision has not been made public.”
