New All-Star Game Format: Urals, Russian Players, World Stars, and Young Talents
KHL.ru presents the format for dividing teams at the upcoming Fonbet KHL All-Star Game, which will take place on February 7 and 8 in Yekaterinburg.
In 2026, the Fonbet KHL All-Star Game will be held in a new format. The players will be split into four teams that will play a mini-tournament. Each game will feature two periods of 10 minutes of game time, and the number of players in the rosters will increase to 14.
The host team of the All-Star weekend will be the KHL Ural Stars – a selection composed of players from Avtomobilist, Traktor, Metallurg, and Salavat Yulaev.
Their opponents will be the KHL World Stars, KHL RUS Stars, and KHL U23 Stars – players for these teams will be chosen from the 18 remaining teams. The first team will include foreign players competing in the KHL, as well as Belarusian and Kazakh players. The KHL RUS Stars will gather the best Russian players, and the Young Stars team will be made up of players born no earlier than Jan. 1, 2003.
As last year, the selection of participants will begin with determining the Fonbet Overtime Hero. From Nov. 21 to 24, fans will be able to vote for a player who decided the outcome of one of this season’s overtimes. From Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, viewers will be able to vote on the Fonbet Hockey Stars Week website for four players for each team, after which media representatives and the League will make their choices.
Based on the results of the JHL Challenge Cup, two players will make it onto the roster of the young stars team for the Fonbet KHL All-Star Game.
Alexei Morozov, KHL President:
“One of the main innovations of the upcoming Fonbet All-Star Game is the principle of team formation. This is an interesting idea we have worked on: the new format should increase the entertainment value and competition between the participants of the All-Star weekend. We deliberately moved away from the traditional divisional geography. As hosts, the Ural stars will play in Yekaterinburg, which will create a special 'home' atmosphere for local fans. The return of Team Russia and Team World is a classic rivalry. And the team made up of young players will add speed, excitement, and showcase the future of our League. Recently, fans have actively asked us to come up with something new for the Fonbet All-Star Game—I hope they will be pleased with this innovation and will truly enjoy the main show of Russian hockey. We believe this approach will make the event even more dynamic and unpredictable for all spectators and participants.”
The Fonbet Hockey Stars Week begins on Feb. 6 with the JHL Challenge Cup match. On Feb. 7 there will be two contests from the Master Show and two semifinal games, and on Feb. 8 another three skills contests and the decisive tournament games will take place.
Ticket sales are scheduled to begin on Dec. 4.
The format of the KHL All-Star Game is being changed for the third time. In the first two seasons, teams were formed according to the “Team Russia” vs. “Team World” principle, with Alexei Yashin as captain of the Russian team and Jaromir Jagr as captain of the international team. For the next six years, the conference principle was used—West vs. East: in 2011, these were again Yashin and Jagr’s teams, in 2012 Ozolinsh and Fedorov, and from 2013 to 2016, West and East teams. Starting in 2017, the All-Star Game was held as a mini-tournament between teams from the Bobrov, Tarasov, Kharlamov, and Chernyshev divisions. It was planned that in the 2021-2022 season, teams would be formed along national lines (teams from Scandinavia, Russia, North America, and Europe), but due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the All-Star Game was canceled.
