Time to resurrect Sokil Kyiv ?

The Ukrainian hockey league has extended the deadline for applications for participation in the Ukrainian championship of the season-2018/19.until June 30.

At the moment five clubs have sent their applications to the League: champion Donbass Donetsk, silver medallist HC Kremenchuk, MHC Dynamo Kharkiv, Bilyỹ Bars Bila Tserkva and newcomer Dnipro Kherson. Three other teams - Vovky Brovary, Halytski Levy Novoyavorivsk, both competed last year, and Sokil Kyiv - asked more time to complete the application, still in the process of solving their financial and infrastructure issues.

"We are ready to start the championship with the number of teams that will be ready by June 30, even if there are still 5 of them. In this season we plan to present the calendar of matches already in the middle of July, so that the clubs can deal with logistics in advance and save money due to early bookings ". said Ukraine League Executive Director Sergei Varlamov

Varlamov stressed also the importance to have new teams in the competition: "The expansion of the hockey horizons of our country is one of the key tasks of the UHL, and the creation of a professional team in Kherson has become a logical continuation of the development of the children's and junior sports school. I want to thank the leaders of the Dnipro, who understand the importance of the vertical club structure: that children, when approaching to hockey, see that they have all the chances to grow to the first team."

Meanwhile the Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko declared the city want to revival the legendary club Sokil Kyiv, inactive since 2014, following an appeal of former players and veterans of the club.

Klitschko has already met with the head of the Ukrainian Hockey Federation Anatoly Brezvin and instructed the head of the Youth and Sports Department Vadim Gutzait to prepare a roadmap for the establishment of the club and its material base.

According to Vesti newspaper, the ownership of Sokil, most likely, will be transferred to public property of the city,.Negotiations with the owner of the team Sergei Taruta have not been conducted yet and it is not known whether Mr. Taruta will give the club to the city for free or demand money.

The main problem is the process of creating club owned by the municipality can take up to six months.This means that the club risks not having time to apply for participation in the championship of Ukraine in the season 2018/2019.

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