MOSCOW Intent on challenging the pre-eminence of Americas National Hockey League (NHL), hockey powerhouse Russia has established a rival organisation - the Continental Hockey League (KHL) - uniting 24 clubs from four countries.

The question now, say devotees of the sport, is whether the upstart will give the august NHL a run for its money.

This new continental league will take our hockey to a whole new level, Russian hockey federation chief Vladislav Tretiak said recently as he welcomed the creation of the new league.

It will become, I believe, the factor that will help us win the world and Olympic titles on a regular basis.

The KHL project was unveiled earlier this year by Russias former sports minister Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexander Medvedev, the deputy chief of state-run gas behemoth Gazprom, with backing from the Russian government.

The new league, built on the foundation of the Russian Superleague, also includes sides from three former Soviet Republics Latvia (Dynamo Riga), Kazakhstan (Barys Astana) and Belarus (Dynamo Minsk).

Ukraines top club, Sokol Kiev, currently play in the Russian minor league but may also join the KHL in the future.
Unlike its predecessor Superleague, which was controlled by Russias national hockey federation, the new league is completely independent.

The KHL won the right to hold the Russian Open championship and to determine the national champion from the Russian Ice-hockey Federation for the next three years.

As for financial support, the new league can count on backing from top Russian firms that have in recent years emerged as among the wealthiest corporations in the world.

In addition to Gazprom, these include metals giant Magnitogorsk Metal Complex, oil company Transneft and a number of the countrys largest banks and insurance companies.

Together, they have endowed the new league with a years budget exceeding 100 million dollars, according to league officials.

The new league has colossal prospects, Fetisov said.

And we are set to keep on working to make these prospects even brighter. At the end of the day, it is the spectators and the game itself that will be the main winners.

Fetisov and others involved in the project do not hide the fact that they modeled the new league largely on the NHL. At the same time, they are confident that their league will soon outstrip its North American rival.

We have completed a tremendous work, Fetisov told reporters shortly after the formal launch of the new league this summer.

At the beginning, the concept of the new league and its organising principles were not well balanced. But we continued talking and finally worked out a plan accepted by all involved in the project.

The new leagues regulations include annual draft procedures, overall club salary limits and many other features borrowed from the NHL code.

The idea has attracted the attention of many ice-hockey clubs in both eastern and western Europe.

Czech side Karlovy Vary, for instance, has already announced their desire to join KHL next season, while Belarus placed a bid for another Minsk club, Yunost, to join the league.

Clubs from France, England, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland have also expressed interest in linking up with the new league.

The KHL has said it is prepared to expand to up to 30 clubs in the next season.

The traditional popularity of ice-hockey in Russia, along with the countrys new wealth, have combined to help Russian clubs both cultivate home-grown talent and lure skilled professionals away from NHL teams.

Combined salaries for KHL clubs this year will total seven billion rubles (283 million dollars), while one club - Yaroslavl side Lokomotiv - will pay its players nearly 20 million dollars, more than any other KHL club.

That still falls short of the 32 million dollars that the Los Angeles Kings - a notoriously low-paying NHL team - has budgeted for player salaries this season. (AFP)