Russia’s hockey chiefs are establishing a European-wide league, which they hope will rival and eventually surpass the NHL as the world’s best and most popular championship. The Continental Hockey League has big plans – and even bigger backers.

One of them is Gazprom, which is pumping millions of dollars into the project.

The league will not be exclusively made up of Russian clubs as teams from around Europe will be invited to take part.

In theory it could be similar to the success of basketball's Euroleague, where top clubs from the continent take on each other every week. The league's proved to be a viable alternative to the NBA.

One of the most important things is that the players are in favour.

Unlike the NHL, where geography decides which division the teams are put in, the Continental Hockey League will use ranking points.

This will help stop anomalies like in North America, where there is a very weak south-east division, but the north-west division is very strong.

The clubs will be seeded according to their results over the last five years, and subsequently drawn into pools which are all relatively even in strength.

There is currently no agreement between the Russian Hockey Federation and the organisers of the new league to pass over rights to the new championship.

However, the Continental Hockey League say they're willing to go it alone and will not force anyone to join who doesn't want to.

Nevertheless, they should have few problems, as the league is in everyone's interests.