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I would not take as a scandal that suddenly eight players with a foreign waist or more can work in each Extraliga Club. It is so long ago, in the competition there is a strange gadget, when a stranger is a hockey player and actually is not. Although its own foreign passport, after three years in the extraleague it falls out of a quota of foreign players and is something like Czech. Suddenly he shines green and ceased to be a stranger, which is so a madhouse, maybe even on an entou.
The clubs still had more foreigners on the rosters than they said.
But that’s not the worst.
Populism in Czech hockey is that even from union leaders, it often sounds that it should reduce the number of foreigners in the extraleague and the competition itself does not want to do it. It sounds nice to play young. Let Czech players play and none of the abroad come here to take up places.
But there is never such a thing to be ordered when the free movement of labor works in your country. If we want to build a team exclusively from the Slovaks, she can show a long nose at all.
This condition needs to be accepted as a fact and learned to work with it. For example, the football league has the following point in its order: “In one match, the team is entitled to start a maximum of five players who are not citizens of the Member State of the European Union, the European Economic Area or the European Union candidate countries.”
Likewise, hockey can also stand on the point and define themselves against the use of hockey players from Canada and the United States. Nothing else is legally done.
But to think that with three foreigners in the team, Czech hockey would fire up the missile, I think is the biggest nonsense. It always depends on people, how they understand the rules and how they want to bend them in their favor.
Foreigners are fine. In Sweden…
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If there was a vote on the best leagues in Europe, Sweden and Switzerland take the first two places, the Czech Republic about the third. Last season, 118 foreigners joined the highest Swedish competition, in Switzerland there were 111, and 106 appeared in our country.
The difference is evident in their use. The problem is not the quota itself, but to what the club with a foreign passport brought the club and how it approaches them.
If I am a responsible extra -league manager, I bring players to a role that I do not have my own hockey players and I need to improve quality. Such an arrival will never hurt because the player raises the quality of the competition. Plus, you can still learn something from him.
Foreigners in leagues in the season 2024/25 | Sport SZ
- Czech Republic: 106 (14 teams)
- Sweden: 118 (14 teams)
- Finland: 165 (16 teams)
- Slovakia: 96 (12 teams)
- Switzerland: 111 (14 teams)
- Germany: 175 (14 teams)
If I am a desperate extra -league manager, I take foreigners because I lead the club badly, I do not invest in youth, I have bad coaches, eventually no quality my own players and I can not raise anyone. Sure, I also save, because in the Czech Republic there is a long -lived system of gaming tables, but no one has to action to change the condition.
When the hockey player does not have a contract, he still cannot move to the Czech Republic without financial compensation in the order of hundreds of thousands of up to millions. But a stranger may. The topic opens from time to time, but it closes quickly, because it comes to the fact that the changes hurt. The same is true for youth and professionals.
Sweden is proof that foreigners do not dispose of development. They significantly increase the competitive environment, they understand the pressure that they have to play their role. Once otherwise, bad luck, end. The NHL clubs continue to drag talented teenagers from the north, although 69 foreigners play in the Swedish junior (40 in the Czech Republic).
Sport depends on the quality of work, approach, responsibility. If wrong is working, the reasons and excuses are looking for. One of them is the number of foreigners.
In short, it is the responsibility of clubs and managers not to get out of the chain and not to issue a “at any price” regime. Prohibitions and commands do not work anyway. Because the regime of six foreigners on the club now worked only on paper, but did not exist in reality. Třinec, Hradec, Vítkovice and others could always exceed the number thanks to the “three years in the Czech Republic, you are not a foreigner”.
And for example, when it comes to Třinec, who used a lot of foreigners, do you feel that he would work badly with youth? I don’t. It is here that players with great potential have been growing up lately.
Each club should see a logical way that if he does not raise his own players, sooner or later it will punish it. It breaks down or descends because once they run out of shopping, that’s a natural process.
Find one way in working with youth
It is essential to understand foreigners as an opportunity and approaching them so that it must always be better than a home player. For home players, it must be motivated to take out foreigners and take its place for themselves.
It always depends on the settings.
When it is bad, we can cry for one year that there are many Latvians. Next, players go to Canada and so on. But if the right training process and a good competitive environment are set in the whole hockey? No one goes anywhere.
I will use Sweden again, where the best young players stay at home, grow up in the system because they know they will improve in competition. Moreover, everything works well in symbiosis with school, which is also quite important detail.
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Tragedy in Brussels
It will help a lot if the functional direction really sets up and stops the flowering with the whole system. Every year there is a system of youth competitions, or at least raging behind the scenes tend to do something. Stability, when for five years nothing will change, has something in itself. At least you will know what works and what doesn’t.
But when you hear on the one hand that it is best not to have any skill coaches and work only in the club, on the other that the best way is skill coaches and the club cough? One is the key to improving the extra competition, when the category of younger youth is added again, then you hear that even in a dream? When people can’t agree in the environment, it’s never a good sign.
If one group enforces something, the other will change it in a moment. And to infinity we can argue what is good.
Hockey can be extremely well in the Czech Republic, it has resources, is popular.
It has a hook, the movement really has to connect, find one vision he needs to believe. And it is far away. Guess is fine for clickable subtitles. But he won’t do any service.
The Foreign Legion and Czech Hockey: Opportunity or Obstacle?
the Czech Republic’s ice hockey scene grapples with a persistent question: are foreign players a boon or a bane? This issue, a recurring debate, comes to the forefront as teams strategize to build competitive squads within a complex framework. This analysis delves into the facts, examining the impact of foreign players on the sport’s advancement, and proposing strategies to navigate this evolving landscape.
h er hh speakable”>Foreigners are fine. In Sweden…
If I am a desperate extra -league manager, I take foreigners because I led the club badly, I do not invest in youth, I have bad coaches, eventually no quality my own players and I can not raise anyone.Sure, I also save, because in the Czech Republic there is a long -lived system of gaming tables, but no one has to action to change the condition.
h er hh speakable”>Find one way in working with youth
It will help a lot if the functional direction really sets up and stops the flowering with the whole system. Every year there is a system of youth competitions, or at least raging behind the scenes tend to do something. Stability, when for five years nothing will change, has something in itself. At least you will know what works and what doesn’t.
Key Takeaways: Foreign Players and Czech Hockey
To provide a balanced perspective on this complex issue, here’s a summarized look at the key points in the article:
| issue | Czech Republic | Sweden | Analysis |
|———————–|————————————————|———————————————|———————————————————————————————————|
| Foreign Player Count| 106 (2024/25 Season, 14 teams) | 118 (2024/25 Season, 14 teams) | Czech Republic has lower number of foreigners than top European Leagues such as Sweden and germany.|
| Approach to Foreigners | Viewed with some skepticism, potential for exploitation | Integrated to enhance competition & develop young players | Swedish clubs are more focused on Quality and Performance.|
| Youth Development | Concerns about hindering homegrown talents | Thriving, young talent stays, good school symbiosis | Development appears stronger in Sweden, despite the prevalence of foreigners |
| Impact on Growth | Mixed – can be negative if not managed well |Positive – Raises competitiveness, increases learning opportunities | Swedish approach offers a working model for the Czech Republic to consider |
Here’s a concise FAQ addressing common questions about foreign players in Czech ice hockey:
**Q: Does the presence of foreign players hinder the development of Czech players?