CHL awards last Wild Card to Poland

The Champions Hockey League has invited Poland to the 2016–17 competition. The Wild Card spot will be awarded to the national champion of the Polish Hockey League.

Press Release

By awarding the 10th and last Wild Card to Poland, the participation structure for the 2016–17 Champions Hockey League season is now complete. Poland becomes the newest of the 13 leagues in the competition and will send their national champion, which will be determined in the best-of-seven final series between local rivals GKS Tychy and Cracovia Krakow – currently tied 2–2 after four games.

The CHL extended a conditional Wild Card to Poland for 2016–17 one year ago – upon the condition of proof that there is visible progress in the Polish League and especially among its top teams. “The progress which Polish hockey has made in one year is quite substantial,” said CHL CEO Martin Baumann on Friday when visiting the third game of the PHL Final between Tychy and Krakow, where he confirmed the Wild Card for 2016–17 to the Polish League and one of the two finalists. “I think it is a good thing for the development of Polish ice hockey that we invite their champion and I am really looking forward to see the best team from Poland in our competition.”

Baumann also pointed out that it will not be easy for the Polish champion to compete in the Champions Hockey League. “It is still a long way to go for Poland in the CHL. It will be tough. But as examples from other C-License countries such as Norway and Great Britain show, Cinderella stories are always possible. I am pretty positive that the Polish champion will also show a good performance in the Champions Hockey League.”

All Wild Cards for 2016–17 confirmed

The Wild Cards, also called C-Licenses, are in general awarded by the CHL to top teams from the “Challenge Leagues”, which are ranked below the six Founding Leagues. As was the case last year, there are 10 C-Licenses for 2016–17:

Norway: champion (TBD) and regular season winner (Stavanger Oilers)
Slovakia: champion (TBD) and regular season winner (HC Kosice)
Denmark: champion (TBD)
France: champion (TBD) – reduced to 1 spot
Great Britain: champion (Sheffield Steelers) – reduced to 1 spot
Belarus: champion – new (2015–16 participation via IIHF Continental Cup)
Poland: champion – new
IIHF Continental Cup winner (Rouen Dragons, France)

35 teams for 2016–17 already known

Apart from the 26 Founding Clubs, the following clubs have also so far qualified for next season’s competition:

Vaxjo Lakers (SWE, B-License) – qualified due to the current situation of the SHL
Skelleftea AIK (SWE, B-License) – regular season winner of the SHL
Red Bull Munich (GER, B-License) – regular season winner of DEL
HC Davos (SUI, B-License) – regular season runner-up of NLA
Orli Znojmo (CZE, B-License) – regular season runner-up of EBEL (AUT)
HC Kosice (SVK, C-License) – regular season winner of Slovak Extraliga
Sheffield Steelers (GBR, C-License) – regular season winner of the EIHL (which is the national champion due to their traditions, not the winner of the playoffs)
Stavanger Oilers (NOR, C-License) – regular season winner of the Ligaen
Rouen Dragons (FRA, C-License) – winner of the IIHF Continental Cup

2016–17 Group Stage Draw and Playing Format

The format for the 2016–17 Champions Hockey League remains the same as 2015-16. 48 teams compete on the “Destination Final” to be crown as Europe’s club champion. 26 A-License (Founding Clubs) clubs are joined by 12 B-License (in principle the national champions and regular season winners of the six Founding Leagues) and 10 C-License clubs.

The Group Stage Draw takes places on 3 May in Zurich, Switzerland.

The Group Stage of the 2016–17 season will begin on 18 August (16 August for Swiss teams) and finish on 11 September. The total of 48 teams will be divided into 16 groups of three and each team will play four games – one home and one away against the other two teams in its group. The first- and second-placed teams in each group will then advance to the Playoff Stage.

With 32 teams in the playoffs, five rounds will be required to determine the European club champion. The first four rounds will all be two-game, home-and-away, total-goal series, similar to the previous seasons. The playoffs will begin on 4 October and finish with a one-game Final on 7 February.