If last week the possible appearance of both ambitious extraleague teams in the Slovakian capital was accompanied by several question marks, especially in the field of marketing, it is now clear that everything is about to end successfully in the form of an extraleague battle in Tehelné poli. Slovan Bratislava, Košice, Trenčín and Zvolen will take part in the extraordinary event of the top Slovak competition.
“The situation is that the Slovak organizers called me today to ask if I could come to Wednesday’s press conference in Bratislava. A meeting of the clubs with the event organizers and the competition management is still scheduled for tomorrow at 10:30, where the last details have to be defined,” said Loukota, director of the Association of Professional Clubs (APK), which has taken over the management of the extra league from the association since this season.
“Třinec, as the home club for this match, has assured me that everything will be fine, and I believe there is nothing to stop the regular extra league match of the regular season taking place in Bratislava in January, everything will be prepared by the organizers to the satisfaction of the participating clubs, fans, BPA and APK and nothing will prevent the organization of this spectacular event”, added Loukota.
So far, four extra league hockey games have been played in the open air. At the beginning of 2020, the players of Sparta and Litvínov played against each other in Dresden. The attendance of 32,009 spectators was a new competition record at the time.
In January 2016, Prague team played in Brno for Lužánky against home team Komet, five days before Brno team played against Pilsen. In 2011, hockey was played at the Speedway stadium in Svítkov where Pardubice hosted Brno.
Another scheduled event was the outdoor matches in Špindlerův Mlýn where Kladno would face Jaromír Jágr. However, the Winter Hockey Games event has already been postponed several times, initially mainly due to the unfavorable situation of the coronavirus and government measures. According to the latest reports, it is expected to take place in December 2023.
