At least this year, the transfer limit of the Ice Hockey SM League differs from normal, as the league has two different transfer limits.
The last possible day for inter-league transfers is January 31st, but you can acquire or transfer players from abroad until February 15th.
The SM league’s board made a decision on the matter in complete silence and only announced the matter publicly in January.
– The decision-making process was very boring for us. The decision was made in April, but we were not informed about this. Saatikka, that we would have been reasonably consulted before the decision in question, the president of SJRY, the ice hockey players’ association Teemu Ramstedt tells Urheilu.
The players’ association heard about it through the media on January 5.
– Very special behavior from the League’s board, says Ramstedt.
The players’ association considers that the SM league has acted in violation of the general agreement between the players’ association and the league, when it has not allowed the players to participate in the decision-making concerning them. The association also considers the transfer limit illegal.
– The players’ association’s view is that this transfer limit set at the end of January violates EU legislation related to the free movement of labor and the legal rules that follow from the related jurisprudence, the legal advisor and lawyer of the players’ association Matti Huhtamäki says.
How are the transfer rules interpreted?
The players’ association has tried during January to get the league board to change its mind, but the transfer limits have remained unchanged.
There are still ambiguities regarding the interpretations, because according to Ramstedt, even at this stage, there is no precise information on how the transfer rules will ultimately be interpreted for individual players. Ramstedt says that the issue was last discussed with the SM league on Wednesday.
– If a player has played in a club this season, for example in January, but the contract is terminated by mutual agreement, can he transfer on 1.2. after yet another league club? There is still no exact information on how this will work for Mestis, Ramstedt wonders.
– How can you move to Mestis and from Mestis to Liiga? What if there is a loan player? Things like this.
Sports Director of the SM League Jussi Markkanen according to, there are no ambiguities regarding transfers. However, he states that there are individual cases that need to be reviewed when things are changed.
– In principle, the easiest interpretation is that January 31st for intra-league transfers and February 15th, according to the international transfer window, for all other transfers, as it has been until now.
According to Markkanen, in addition to the players’ association, clubs have also asked more detailed questions. He opens the scenario raised by Ramstedt.
– If there is a player without a contract when the League’s transfer limit expires on January 31, then there is no league contract, in which case it is not a matter of an intra-league transfer. Until February 15, players without contracts can move naturally in the League and in and out of foreign countries, says Markkanen.
The players’ association was not consulted
According to Markkanen, Mestis and SM league transfers are possible until February 15.
– However, if you are on loan and have a league contract, you can only return to the club where the contract exists.
Why wasn’t the players’ association allowed to participate in the decision-making concerning them, even though it is part of the general agreement between the SM league and the players’ association?
– According to the league’s general agreement, the players’ association is consulted in such matters, and the league makes decisions after hearing it. The league has the right to decide on this matter.
In your opinion, were they consulted?
– We heard in the finals. When such a decision was made for the first time last spring, it is true that the players’ association was not consulted in that way.
– Of course, I wasn’t here myself (working in the SM league), so I can’t say exactly how things have gone, but the league board discussed the matter in January even after the matter had been discussed with the players’ association and ended up making the same decision again in January. Since then, the league has come out with a decision on the matter, says Markkanen.
Players association: The system needs to be fixed
The board of the players’ association is of the opinion that the transfer limit should not have been changed under any circumstances. Ramstedt hopes that the SM league would have one transfer limit on February 15.
– Here we have now gone the wrong way and started to fix the consequence and not the cause, says Ramstedt.
Ramstedt emphasizes that the transfer limit is not the reason for the clearance sales seen in recent years.
– The reason is that even at the end of January there is such a situation that all teams no longer have anything to play in that season.
– Now the reason should be fixed, i.e. change the system so that even on February 15, all teams have something to play. Now we are fixing the consequence and not the actual cause, which causes clearance sales.