CSKA Moscow president and KHL chairman Vyacheslav Fetisov has stunned the Russian hockey world by quitting both posts.

­The sports legend made the announcement before the start of the KHL’s All-Star game in Riga, Latvia.  

“I'm leaving hockey altogether,” Fetisov told RIA-Novosti. “Saturday's match will be the last for me. I wish [KHL President] Alexander Medvedev success in the further development of the league and in the development of hockey in general.”

The 53-year-old was one of those behind the creation of Europe’s top hockey league – the KHL, and has headed its board of directors since 2008.

“Everyone knows the situation with CSKA Moscow,” he explained. “I was just disgusted with it, and I don’t want to be part of it. It took me too long to make my name. Staying in such circumstances doesn’t make sense, but I’ll find something else to do in the future.”  

In May 2009, Fetisov also took up the position of president at CSKA Moscow, where he had spent a huge part of his impressive playing career.

But Soviet hockey's most decorated teams has recently fell on hard times, and was forced to change its ownership. Oil company Rosneft took charge, with Fetisov losing his influence at the club.  

The news of his colleague’s retirement came as a real shock for KHL’s president.

"Surprises can be not only pleasant, but unpleasant as well,” Aleksey Medvedev said. “I can only badly imagine the KHL’s existence without Vyacheslav."

He continued that that was all he had to say of the move at the moment.

Fetisov, who is regarded as one of the best defenders in the history of the game, made his last appearance on the ice in 1998.

Besides two Olympic gold medals, he won seven World Championships with Russia and two Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings.