Charles Russell Speechlys has advised The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on the establishment of a new global international team-sport league – the Hockey Pro League.

The new league, which is due to launch in January 2019, will see the nine best men's and women's teams from around the world play each other both at home and away every year, across a total of 144 one-off matches. The fixtures will take place in national stadiums, week in, week out, from January to June.

We advised the FIH on the contractual arrangements necessary to establish the new Home and Away League from 2019-2022.

Michelle Riondel at FIH commented: "Charles Russell Speechlys advice on this project has been invaluable. Their knowledge of the sport industry, coupled with a Swiss presence, was particularly useful."

Jason Saiban, partner and head of the sport group at Charles Russell Speechlys, commented: "We are thrilled to have been involved in this exciting development in the world of professional hockey which demonstrates our ability to work with international sport bodies."

The Charles Russell Speechlys team on this project included members of our Sports team in both our London and Geneva offices.

More information on our work in the sport sector (both in the UK and internationally) can be obtained from Jason Saiban.

In Switzerland, our sport group members are Grégoire Uldry, Rupert Ramsay and Christophe Levet.