Kontinental Hockey League or KHL

sharminsultana · Post by **sharminsultana** » Wed Jul 09, 2025 10:07 am

At the beginning of this week, the Kontinental Hockey League or KHL kicked off. This is, along with the NHL, the strongest hockey competition in the world. Although under its current name, the KHL has only existed since 2008, its past is much more distant and has its roots in the former Soviet hockey championship. Let's see the path taken by the strongest championship in Europe in a top 10.

1.The Soviet period.
In the former Soviet Union, the first edition of the championship was recorded in 1947, and the first champion was Dynamo Moscow. In this format, the competition was held until 1992, when after the collapse of the USSR, the sport underwent major transformations. Regarding this period, the most successful team was CSKA Moscow. The "military" won 32 titles in 42 editions. Moreover, they achieved a real record, difficult to achieve, 13 consecutive titles between 1977 and 1989. The champions' list also included Dynamo Moscow (5 titles), Spartak Moscow (4 titles), VVS. Moscow (3 titles) and Krylya Sovetov (2 titles). As a curiosity, the great football goalkeeper Lev Yashin was a hockey champion with Dynamo Moscow in 1954.

2. Intercontinental Hockey League
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the hockey championship was phone number list renamed the Intercontinental Hockey League. Under this name, the competition was held in four editions from 1992 to 1996, according to the autumn-spring system. In the four editions of the IHL, Dynamo Moscow and Lada Togliatti shared the trophies, both achieving two final successes each. Dynamo in 1992–93 and 1994–95, and Lada in 1993–94 and 1995–96.

3.Super League.
In 1997, the name was changed to Super League and the competition bore this name until 2008. The most successful teams of this period were Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and Metallurg Magnitogorsk, who won the title three times. Along with these, the champions' table also includes Ak Bars Kazan (2 titles), Dynamo Moscow (2 titles), Avangard Omsk and Salvat Yulaev Ufa, with one success each.