Matti Nurminen, CEO of the Hockey Association, comments to Urheil on Rene Fasel’s situation. According to Nurminen, Fasel has been hinted that serious consideration should be given to arriving in Finland.
Jussi Saarinen,
Simo Arkko,
Roope Visuri
One familiar team will be missing from the World Hockey Championships in Finland this spring, as Russia has been excluded from international puck competitions due to the war that began in Ukraine.
The situation in Russia has been talked about a lot in international hockey this spring, not least by the former chairman of the International Hockey Federation. Rene Faselin because of.
In March, KHL’s information department confirmed to the Russian media that Fasel had been hired as KHL’s development and strategy consultant. Fasel denied the news of the salary, but it became a big topic of conversation.
KHL is a Russian-led hockey league with close ties to the Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Before the Finnish-Latvian struggle in Tampere, Sports met with the CEO of the Finnish Hockey Association Matti Nurminen. He will take up the post of Secretary General of the International Hockey Federation IIHF in early June. Fasel, who has chaired the IIHF for 27 years, is still the Honorary President of the IIHF.
Honorary President Rene Fasel continues to express very strong views on his controversial relations with Russia. What is the image disadvantage for international hockey in general that Fasel is the honorary president of the international federation?
– I do not know if I am the right person to analyze what kind of image disadvantage it is for the International Hockey Federation. All in all, the Russian war is a very sad event and it has a lot of negative effects on hockey, other sports and certainly Fasel.
Is or would Fasel be welcome to these races in this situation?
– Officially, he is the honorary chairman and has received an invitation. I know that behind the scenes he has been kindly told that perhaps he should exercise serious consideration as to whether he will arrive.
According to Nurminen, the Finnish World Championships in Tampere and Helsinki have also been excellent. Among other things, Nurminen said that the income from the World Championships is of great importance from the perspective of development projects.
– The economy of the Finnish Hockey Association is on a very stable footing, but since 1997 we have earmarked the proceeds of the World Cup for development projects that always go to the club field. For us to be able to continue those good projects, it is of great importance.