Company info
The Champions Hockey League AG (CHL) is a company established in 2013 in Switzerland that holds all rights of the Champions Hockey League and organises the competition. CHL is an AG (Aktiengesellschaft = Ltd.) registered in Zug under Swiss Law. As such the CHL is owned by shareholders and governed by a board which is elected by the CHL General Meeting, the league’s legislative body.
The shareholding structure of the company is as follows:
26 Founding Clubs: 63%
6 Founding Leagues: 25%
IIHF: 12%
The shareholders of CHL have, through the General Meeting, appointed the following board and respective shareholder representatives. The board is the CHL’s executive body.
CHL Founding Members
The founding members and subsequent group of shareholders can be summarized as set out below.
Founding Clubs (A-License)
These are clubs that have: an established record of sportive excellence; contributed to the development of ice hockey in their country; solid financial status and organisation; developed infrastructure, and can thus be considered as worthy representatives of their country and league in the CHL. These clubs are mainly, but not limited to, those who have been instrumental in developing the European Trophy competition and who have over a period of time invested effort and funds into that competition. For the first three years of the CHL competition, founding clubs had granted playing rights. Starting with the 2017/18 season, also founding clubs must earn their CHL spots via qualification on sporting merits in the domestic league.
Founding Leagues (B-License)
These are clubs that are not "A" licensed clubs but that are national champions or regular season winners from a Founding League from the previous season or as per appointment according to a performance related formula where finishing among the top teams in the playoffs or the regular season of their domestic league. A B-License is awarded to clubs for one season only.
IIHF (C-License)
These are also called Wild Card Clubs; these may be clubs that are previous winners of the Champions Hockey League, champions from leagues outside of the Founding Leagues or other deserving clubs, and are appointed as per CHL Board decision. It is the CHL’s objective via the Wild Card system, to contribute to the development of European club ice hockey by having an internationally as diverse as possible participation field.
CHL Board
The Champions Hockey League Board is composed by 9 members and reflects the shareholder structure of the company. Board members represent proportionally the clubs, the leagues and the IIHF and are elected at the annual General Meeting of the league.
Chairman
Peter Zahner (SUI), CEO of ZSC Lions Zurich
Clubs
Rupert Zamorsky (AUT), Head of Marketing for EC Red Bull Salzburg
Petr Briza (CZE), Chairman of Sparta Prague
Gernot Tripcke (GER), GM of Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL)
Timo Everi (FIN), Chairman of IFK Helsinki
Håkan Loob (SWE), Vice-President of the Alliance of European Ice Hockey Clubs
Leagues
Christian Feichtinger (AUT), CEO of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL)
Jörgen Lindgren (SWE), President of Hockey Europe
IIHF
Franz Reindl (GER), President of the German Ice Hockey Association and IIHF Council Member
CHL Office
The CHL Office is based in Zug, Switzerland:
Champions Hockey League (CHL) AG
Gubelstrasse 24
6300 Zug
Switzerland
office@championshockeyleague.com
CHL Staff
Martin Baumann, CEO
Bo Lennartsson, Senior Sport Advisor
Alexander Jaeger, Sport Director
Monika Reinhard, Communication & Digital Media Director
Jannine Kamm, Communication & Digital Media Coordinator
Philip Schuler, Marketing & Operations Manager
Andreas Kötter, Event & Marketing Coordinator