Slovakian ice hockey club Slovan Bratislava has applied to join the KHL as an expansion team next season, the league said Thursday.
With current KHL team Lev Poprad likely moving to the Czech Republic next season, Slovakia will be left without a KHL team unless the league accepts a new entrant.
“The Slovan hockey club has submitted an official application to appear in the KHL in the 2012-13 season,” a statement on the KHL website said.
The league said it had already begun assessing Slovan’s fitness to host KHL hockey, and would soon send a team of inspectors to Bratislava.
“After that a decision will be taken about the club taking part in the next season of the Kontinental Hockey League.”
The Slovakian Hockey Federation cleared Slovan and fellow Slovakian league side HK Poprad to apply to the KHL last week.
Another likely candidate for a KHL place is Italian team Milano Rossoblu, which is examining its financial readiness before making a bid.
The league has not said how many new teams it is prepared to accept.
Slovan has won the Slovakian title seven times, with its last triumph coming in 2008.
Representing Czechoslovakia, the team won three Spengler Cups in a row between 1972 and 1974.
