Kontinental Hockey League
The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; Russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), romanized: Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1) and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs.
| Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 KHL season | |
| Formerly | Russian Superleague (RSL) |
|---|---|
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Founded | 2008 |
| President | Alexei Morozov |
| Motto | Хоккей – наша игра! (Hockey is our game!) Хакей – наша гульня! Хоккей – біздің ойын! 冰球，就是我们的生活！ |
| No. of teams | 23 |
| Country |
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| Most recent champion(s) | CSKA Moscow (3rd title) |
| Most titles | HC CSKA Moscow Ak Bars Kazan (3 titles each) |
| TV partner(s) | KHL TV, KHL TV Prime (Russia (as part of the NTV Plus package), Russia and international through KHL's website) |
| Related competitions |
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| Official website | www |
It was considered in 2015 to be the strongest professional ice hockey league in Europe and Asia, and the second-strongest in the world behind North America's National Hockey League. The KHL had in 2017 the highest total attendance in Europe with 15.32 million spectators in the regular season and third-highest average attendance in Europe with 26,121 spectators per game in the regular season. The Gagarin Cup is awarded annually to the league's playoff champion at the end of each season. The title of Champion of Russia is given to the highest-ranked Russian team.