Champions Hockey League (2008–09)
The Champions Hockey League was a short-lived ice hockey tournament which was launched in 2008 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) after adopting the proposal put forth by Ovation Sports AG, and only played in the 2008–09 season. Its creation coincided with the IIHF's 100th anniversary and replaced the IIHF European Champions Cup, the previous competition for Europe's top ice hockey teams. The financial reward for progressing to the CHL Group Stage was a portion of the 16.9 million Swiss francs that was distributed between the teams with a 1,000,000 Swiss francs bonus going to the winner; the largest monetary reward ever given in any European ice hockey competition.
| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| First season | 2008 |
| Ceased | 2009 |
| CEO | Craig Thompson |
| No. of teams | 12 (group stage) 14 (total) |
| Country | Multiple in Europe |
| Last champion(s) | ZSC Lions (1) |
| TV partner(s) | Europe: various USA: Universal Sports CAN: The Score |
| Related competitions | Victoria Cup |
| Official website | championshockeyleague.com |
The Silver Stone Trophy, which has been awarded to the top club team in European hockey since 1997, was the CHL's championship trophy. Because of contractual problems between the IIHF and CHL investors, the Champions Hockey League was cancelled after only one season had been played.
On December 9, 2013, the IIHF officially announced that they had launched a new tournament with the same name, born out of the original Champions Hockey League and the European Trophy, starting in the 2014–15 season.