DAVOS /Switzerland/, December 24. /TASS/. Sooner or later, an international hockey league will be created in Europe and may become a part of the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) President Rene Fasel told reporters in the Swiss city of Davos.

Europe’s ice hockey tournament, Champions Hockey League, was created in 2013. KHL clubs are not taking part in it.

"Sooner or later we will see one big international European hockey league. Perhaps it could be the Western Conference of the KHL," Fasel said late on Monday.

"Maybe we·ll see Swiss club joining KHL. Swiss Hockey Association is not against this idea, but their condition is if the club would come back to Swiss league system, the club would need to start from the lowest league. It hinders the clubs," the IIHF president added.

The Kontinental Hockey League was founded in Russia in 2008 and currently lists 24 professional ice hockey clubs from Russia, Belarus, China, Finland, Kazakhstan and Latvia. Earlier, clubs from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia and Ukraine also participated in KHL.

International experts deem the KHL as the premier ice hockey league in Europe and Asia ranking it as the world’s second most important, right on the heels of the US-based NHL (National Hockey League).