The new tournament, organised under the auspices of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), is set to add a new dimension of European competition as it runs alongside the domestic leagues in Austria, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic.
It replaces and is loosely modelled on the previous Champions Hockey League, a trans-national tournament that ran for one season in 2008-09 before key sponsors pulled out. Since then Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League has expanded several times, and Finland’s Jokerit are the latest club to announce they will join that league.
The IIHF has long sought an international club competition to match the cash cow that is the organisation’s annual world championship for national teams. IIHF Vice-President, and chair of the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation Kalervo Kummola claims that the new Champions League is about more than just business.
"Before the talk was all about funding and prize money," said Kummola, who has been closely involved in negotiations to found a European club competition. "Now that clubs have founded this themselves, there has been no talk of money at all. Now we are just talking about sport and matches. I believe this is here to stay."
The 26 founding clubs, who each have a stake in the new CHL company, will participate every year. In addition, the champions and regular season winners from each country will also get a spot.
JYP, HIFK, TPS, KalPa, Kärpät and Tappara are the Finnish teams involved. The KHL would have liked Jokerit to join the new venture alongside participation in the Russian league, but the CHL board torpedoed that idea.