Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada to compete, with the provision that the Stanley Cup winners were to be recognized as "World's Champions". The phrase was repeatedly engraved on the Cup, and continued to be used, when the NHL began admitting American franchises. When the NHL assumed formal control of the Cup in 1947, the resulting agreement required "that the winners of this trophy shall be the acknowledged World's Professional Hockey Champions" (in contrast to the IIHF's Ice Hockey World Championships, at the time contested only by amateurs). When the World Hockey Association commenced play in the 1970s, they sought to challenge for the Stanley Cup,
Sobers–Tissera Trophy regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders in the history of the game. Tissera, a right-hand batsman and leg-spin bowler, played in the same era as Sobers, but his career was limited to playing first-class cricket, as Sri Lanka was not an ICC full member nation and therefore did not play Test cricket, where Tissera lead the Ceylon team to win the famous victory against India in India, and Sri Lanka then never won a match in India even after gaining Test status. Sobers–Tissera Trophy The Sobers–Tissera Trophy is a cricket trophy, awarded to the winners of Test series between