With the aim of making the Champions Hockey League's qualification criteria easier to understand for fans and journalists, the CHL's Board has agreed on a slight adaptation for the 2019/20 season onwards.
The qualification criteria for national leagues will now be based on the following rules:
- League champions
- Regular season winners
- Regular season runners-up
- Regular season third-placed team
- Regular season fourth-placed team
- Regular season fifth-placed team
The CHL champions will continue to be automatically qualified for the following season, although, as before, no additional place will be granted to their respective league.
What's changed?
Previously teams could qualify via the playoffs, this update to the rules means that it is only possible by performance over the regular season - or winning the overall championship. "The new rules enhance the regular seasons of the national leagues, and make the CHL qualification criteria easier to understand for fans and media," said Senior Sport Advisor Bo Lennartsson. "Simplifying this criteria is the next step in order to improve the product."
Which leagues are affected?
Teams qualifying from the six founding leagues will be subject to this updated criteria for the 2019/20 season onwards. There is however one exception - Austria's EBEL, which operates on a slightly different format. For this league only:
- League champions
- Regular season winners
- Pick Round winners
- Pick Round runners-up
- Losing playoff finalists
For the Challenger leagues, only the champions will continue to qualify.
How are the number of places per league decided?
Places for each league are calculated with the CHL League Ranking tool, which measures the performance by clubs from each league each season in the CHL. Based on results so far this season, Switzerland and Czech Republic have overtaken Finland and sit second and third respectively.