Ice Hockey Champions League

[JP]

Details have emerged:

12 teams:
2 each from Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech
1 each from Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia
1 other team to be announced

Teams will be this seasons regular season winner and play-off winner, if same team wins both, then the 2nd placed regular season team qualifies.

Prize Money:
300.000 Euro per team (appearance fee)
50.000 Euro for each win in the group stage
200.000 Euro for semi-final appearance
1.000.000 Euro to the CHL winner
500.000 Euro for the other finalist
300.000 Euro to each participating league
100.000 Euro to each participating national association



Teams known so far:

Karpat Oulu (Finland)
HV71 Jonkoping (Sweden)
Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia)
Ceske Budejovice (Czech)

The following are guarenteed to at least play in the qualification tournament, altho by winning their play-offs they will get a passage straight to the league round:

Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Nurnberg Ice Tigers (Germany)
SC Bern (Switzerland)


The regular season winners from Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland will play a round robin tournament to decide who gets the 12th and final spot.



For the 2009/10 season, the league will be boasted to 24 teams, meaning a GB team will almost definetley play a part! Exciting news!

[Rich]

Quality, so one more attempt at the Continental Cup next season and then we join the big boys in the Champions League.

[PW]

So what happens if Sinupret Ice Tigers (that's their name-Nurnberg is just the city they play in) win the league and the playoffs? Does that presumably mean that Berlin go into the qualifying tournament, as second-placed DEL team?

And what does this mean for the Conti Cup?