Attention!

Changes have been made to the system for player tryouts and recruitment to the Academy in Slovakia.

On June 16, 2019, the Congress of the National Hockey Union was held in Bratislava, where new rules were approved, including changes concerning foreign players (legionnaires).

Starting from the 2019/2020 season, all foreign players will be considered legionnaires until they obtain Slovak citizenship. When signing a contract, they are required to pay a fee to the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation (SIHF) for the following two seasons:

• Skaters: €3,000.
• Goalkeepers: €6,000.

Limits have also been established on the number of legionnaires allowed on teams:

• Children’s Hockey League (from Grade 5 to Grade 9 (U-16)) and the 1st Kaufland League (Dorast U-18 and Juniors U-20): no more than 2 foreign players.
• Extraliga (Dorast U-18 and Juniors U-20): no more than 1 foreign player.

For the 2026/2027 season and beyond, the Congress of the National Hockey Union approved new rules for youth age categories and the development of playing models:

New age categories and competitions:

• Juniors (up to 20 years old): Junior Extraliga, 1st Junior League.
• Adolescents (up to 17 years old): Dorast Extraliga, 1st Dorast League.
• Senior School Students (Grade 9 up to 15 years old; Grade 8 up to 14 years old): Senior Students League “AA”, Senior League “A”.
• Junior School Students (Grade 7 up to 13 years old; Grade 6 up to 12 years old): Junior Students League “AA”, Junior League “A”.
• HP5 Preparation (Grade 5 up to 11 years old): Preparatory Competition, Grade 5.
• HP4 Preparation (Grade 4 up to 10 years old): Preparatory Competition, Grade 4.

These changes are aimed at synchronizing age categories with school years, which simplifies the planning of the training process and creates equal conditions for competitions. This contributes to improving the level of individual player development and minimizes the problem of players “aging” within their categories.

Europa Stars Hockey Academy – your step towards professional hockey!