MOSCOW, December 13 (R-Sport) - The idea of creating a CIS football league is a "crazy scheme", Terek Grozny vice-president Khaidar Alkhanov told R-Sport on Thursday.
The idea of a league uniting teams from former Soviet states has been in the air over the last few years and was raised with renewed vigor by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller last month, and has since picked up support from top Russian teams CSKA Moscow and Anzhi Makhachkala.
“The creation of a CIS league is a crazy scheme,” Alkhanov said.
“But the main question is: what is the goal of people promoting this idea? Is it our league they don’t like? Or our country?”
It is not clear how the mooted league would be organized, and Alkhanov said problems would arise in cutting out some of the current Russian Premier League sides.
“Some teams will have to leave the Premier League voluntarily. But who?” Alkhanov said. “These people are just showing their disrespect to our championship.”
Russian Premier League head Sergei Pryadkin and representatives of CSKA, Zenit, Anzhi and FC Krasnodar are to hold a media conference on the plans at RIA Novosti later Thursday.
Other sports, such as ice hockey and basketball, have set up regional leagues covering part of the post-Soviet space in recent years.
