Champions Hockey League

This article is about the tournament that was launched in the 2014–15 season. For the tournament that was cancelled after the 2008–09 season, see Champions Hockey League (2008–09).
The Champions Hockey League is a European ice hockey tournament launched by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which started in the 2014–15 season.
== Background ==
The IIHF launched a tournament with the same name in 2008 to coincide with the IIHF's 100th anniversary. The tournament's only season was played between 8 October 2008 and 28 January 2009, and was won by the ZSC Lions who got to play in the 2009 Victoria Cup game as a result. The IIHF planned to launch another season, but was ultimately forced to cancel the tournament due to problems with finding sponsors and failure to agree on a format. On 9 December 2013, the IIHF officially announced that they had launched a new tournament with the same name, born out of the European Trophy, starting in the 2014–15 season.New era dawns for Europe
==Seasons==
=== Overview ===
Season 	Teams 	Games 	 	Champion 	Runner-up 	Semi-finalists 	 	 	 	
2014–15	44 	161 	3,049 	Luleå HF 	Frölunda HC 	Oulun Kärpät, Skellefteå AIK 	 	 	 	
2015–16	48 	157 	3,261 	Frölunda HC 	Oulun Kärpät 	HC Davos, Lukko 	 	 	 	
2016–17	48 	157 	3,240 	Frölunda HC 	HC Sparta Praha 	Fribourg-Gottéron, Växjö Lakers 	 	 	 	
2017–18	32 	125 	3,369 	JYP 	Växjö Lakers 	Oceláři Třinec, Bílí Tygři Liberec 	 	 	 	
2018–19	32 	125 	3,400 	Frölunda HC 	EHC Red Bull München 	HC Plzeň, EC Red Bull Salzburg 	 	 	 	
2019–20	32 	125 	3,446 	Frölunda HC 	Mountfield HK 	Djurgårdens IF, Luleå HF 	 	 	 	
2020–21	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021–22	32 	123 	1,988 	Rögle BK 	Tappara 	Frölunda HC, EHC Red Bull München 	 	 	 	
2022–23	32 	125 	2,841 	Tappara 	Luleå HF 	EV Zug, Frölunda HC 	 	 	 	
2023–24	24 	101 	3,475 	Genève-Servette HC 	Skellefteå AIK 	Lukko, Vítkovice Ridera 	 	 	 	
=== 2014–15 season ===
The 2014–15 season's regulation round was played between 21 August and 7 October 2014. 44 clubs from 12 different European countries participated in the season, divided into 11 groups of four teams each. A draw took place in Minsk, Belarus, on 21 May 2014 to determine the groups. Each team played a double round-robin in their group, for a total of 6 games per team. The 11 group winners as well as the top five group runners-up qualified for the playoffs, which began on 4 November and ended with the final on 4 February 2015. The playoffs were as a single-elimination tournament, with all rounds leading to the final played in two-game, home-and-away, total-goal series. The final was a single game. In total, 161 games were played, including the group and playoff stages.
=== 2015–16 season ===
For the 2015–16 season, the tournament has been expanded to 48 teams, divided into 16 groups with three teams in each group. The two first teams in each group advanced to the playoff round of 32. The 48 teams consisted of the 26 founding A-licence clubs, 12 B-licensed clubs from the founding leagues, and 10 C-licensed "Wild card" teams from other leagues. The champions from Norway, Denmark, Slovakia, France and the United Kingdom, like the previous season, received wild card berths. From Slovakia, Norway, France and the United Kingdom, a second team also received a wild card berth. One wild card license was also assigned to IIHF Continental Cup 2015 winner HK Neman Grodno.
=== 2016–17 season ===
The 2016–17 season was once more played with 48 teams, using the same format as in the previous season. The season started on 16 August 2016 and ended with the final game on 7 February 2017 with Frölunda defeating Sparta Prague, 4–3 in overtime.
=== 2017–18 season ===
Starting with the fourth CHL season, the championship was reduced to 32 teams, and qualification was on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a three-year league ranking), while eight teams from the "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each. No founding team was qualified automatically.
Finnish side JYP Jyväskylä won the title defeating Swedish team Växjö Lakers 2-0.
===2018–19 season===
The fifth CHL season was competed by 32 teams, and qualification was on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a four-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each. One place was awarded to the Continental Cup champion. Unlike in the first three editions, founding teams did not automatically qualify. The group stages began on 30 August 2018, and ended on 17 October 2018. The season had an average attendance of 3,401 per game, one percent increase from the previous season.
Swedish team Frölunda HC won their third Champions Hockey League title, defeating Red Bull München, the first German team to reach the final, 3–1 at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg.
===2019–20 season===
The sixth CHL season had 32 teams competing, and qualification was again on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a three-year league ranking), while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each. One place was awarded to the champion of the 2018–19 Champions Hockey League as well as a wild card spot selected by the board.
Swedish team Frölunda HC successfully defended their Champions Hockey League title, defeating Czech team Mountfield HK 3–1 in the final to win the European Trophy for a fourth time. For the first time in the history of the league, the final was held in the Czech Republic as Mountfield HK earned the right to host the game at ČPP Arena.
===2020–21 season===
The season was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
===2021–22 season===
The seventh CHL season had 32 teams competing with qualification being on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a three-year league ranking) while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by their national champions. One place was awarded to the champion of the 2019–20 Champions Hockey League as well as two wild card spots selected by the board to replace the national champions of Belarus and Slovakia. The season was marked by participation of the first Ukrainian team, HC Donbass.
Swedish team Rögle BK in their debut season beat Finnish team Tappara 2–1 in the final at their home Catena Arena in Ängelholm to win the European Trophy for the first time.
===2022–23 season===
The eighth CHL season had 32 teams competing with qualification being on sporting merits only. The six founding leagues were represented by between three and five teams (based on a four-year league ranking) while seven "challenge leagues" were represented by their national champions. One place each was awarded to the champions of the 2021–22 Champions Hockey League and 2021–22 Continental Cup, as well as one wild card spot selected by the board to replace the Ukrainian champion HC Donbass. This season was marked by the participation of the first Hungarian and Slovenian teams, with Fehérvár AV19 and Olimpija Ljubljana joining the competition.
Finnish team Tappara defeated Swedish team Luleå HF 3–2 in the final at Coop Norrbotten Arena in Luleå to win the European Trophy for the first time.
== Teams ==
Since the 2017–18 season, 32 teams again participate in the group stage, with 24 of the entries coming from the six founding leagues (Swedish Hockey League, Finnish Liiga, Swiss National League A, Czech Extraliga, German DEL and Austrian/international EBEL) and all berths being earned through on-ice achievement: the "founding clubs" are no longer guaranteed a place in the competition. A maximum of five teams from each country are permitted, with the entries allotted to each country according to a coefficient system (best two leagues get five berths, next two get four, last two get three). The remaining eight places are given to the champions of the Norwegian, Slovakian, French, Belarusian, Danish, British and Polish leagues, as well as the champion of the Continental Cup. The teams are then be drawn into eight groups of four, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the knockout stage, which is contested as two-legged ties until a one-match final.
In the first 3 years of the competition, the 26 founding teams had guaranteed spots in the group stage ("A license"). Additional teams from the founding league, that qualified based on sporting merits ("B license") and the champions from other European leagues ("C license") completed the field.
===League ranking===
Rank	League 	Points 2016–17 (25%)	Points 2017–18 (50%)	Points 2018–19 (75%)	Points 2019–20 (100%)	Total points	Berths for 2022–23
1 	SHLF 	95 (24) 	100 (50) 	100 (75) 	100 	249 	5
2 	NLAF 	100 (25) 	80 (40) 	95 (71) 	90 	226 	5
3 	DELF 	75 (19) 	85 (43) 	80 (60) 	95 	217 	4
4 	LiigaF 	90 (23) 	90 (45) 	85 (64) 	80 	212 	4
5 	ELHF 	85 (21) 	95 (48) 	75 (56) 	85 	210 	3
6 	ICEHLF 	65 (16) 	75 (38) 	90 (68) 	70 	192 	3
7 	BXL 	80 (20) 	70 (35) 	60 (45) 	75 	175 	1
8 	EIHL 	60 (15) 	65 (33) 	40 (30) 	70 	148 	1
9 	Ligue Magnus 	45 (11) 	50 (25) 	70 (53) 	55 	144 	1
10 	Tipos Extraliga	70 (18) 	60 (30) 	55 (41) 	55 	144 	1
11 	Eliteserien 	50 (13) 	55 (28) 	70 (53) 	40 	134 	1
12 	PHL 	40 (10) 	50 (25) 	50 (38) 	60 	133 	1
13 	Metal Ligaen 	60 (15) 	50 (25) 	50 (38) 	55 	133 	1
F founding leagues
Note: It was decided that the 2021–22 season would not be accounted for.
====League ranking points calculation====
Each match is counted for league ranking points. Points collected by all teams from a specific league are summed up and then divided by number of teams from that league. The final result represents the league's coefficient for that year. Coefficients are then sorted from highest to lowest: the best league gets 100 points with each following getting five points less than previous one (95, 90, 85...).
Points are awarded as follows:
* win in regulation time – 3 points (group stage, playoffs)
* win in overtime – 2 points (group stage only; no overtime in playoffs)
* tie in regulation time – 1 point (playoffs only)
* loss in overtime – 1 point (group stage only)
* loss in regulation time – 0 points (group stage, playoffs)
Additionally, each team is awarded 1 point for reaching each of next rounds.
The last four seasons are taken into account for berth allocation for the 2018–19 season. League points are made of 25% of points won in first season, 50% of points won in second season, 75% of points won in third season and 100% of points won in last, fourth season.
For the 2018–19 season, each of the four previous seasons will be taken into account and starting with 2019-20 season each will be based on points from last five seasons.
== Prize money ==
In the 2014–15 season, 40 teams competed for a grand total of 1.5 million euros.
== European Trophy ==
The winner of the Competition will receive the “European Trophy”.http://www.championshockeyleague.net/about/about_chl/
==Records and statistics==
===Winners===
 Performance by club
Club 	Winners	Runners-up		Years won
Frölunda HC 	4 	1 		2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20
Tappara 	1 	1 		2022–23
Luleå HF 	1 	1 		2014–15
JYP 	1 	0 		2017–18
Rögle BK 	1 	0 		2021–22
Genève-Servette HC 	1 	0 		2023–24
Oulun Kärpät 	0 	1 		
Växjö Lakers 	0 	1 		
EHC Red Bull München	0 	1 		
HC Sparta Praha 	0 	1 		
Mountfield HK 	0 	1 		
Skellefteå AIK 	0 	1 		
===By nation===
 Performance by nation
Nation	Winners	Runners-up
 	6 	4
 	2 	2
 	1 	0
 	0 	2
 	0 	1
== References ==
== See also ==
* European Trophy, a similar tournament played annually since 2006
 
Category:International Ice Hockey Federation tournaments