Champions Hockey League restart postponed

24 Feb 2011 | Petr Polák

On Wednesday´s meeting of the European leagues representatives it was decided to postpone the Champions Hockey League (CHL) restart. The reason is a weak support of IIHF´s current CHL blueprint from the leagues representatives.

"As the majority of the leagues were not in favor of accepting the IIHF’s offer for a re-launch for the 2011-2012 season, the Council decided to postpone the Champions Hockey League plans. The IIHF will continue the dialogue with all the relevant parties to reach a solution for the future," the IIHF stated on its official website.

Representatives are still requesting financial compensations for the clubs that should have been qualified into CHL for the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons - the original contract between IIHF and the leagues was signed for three years, but only one season was played before the CHL project stopped in effect of the World financial crisis.

Leagues are arguing that their clubs invested millions of Euros with the view of possibility for qualifying into the CHL but IIHF wasn´t able to keep its commitments concerning the original three-year contract and the clubs should be indemnified.

The current blueprint offered investments of 17,6 mil. CHF (app. 13,8 mil.€) for as the budget for the first three seasons. In the budget was included the clubs´ entry fees, travelling costs, awards and financial indemnity for clubs that should have started in the 2009/10 CHL season.