Company info
The Champions Hockey League AG (CHL) was established in 2013 in Switzerland and holds all rights to the Champions Hockey League and organises the competition. The 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 that is elected by the CHL General Meeting, the league’s legislative body.
The shareholding structure of the company is as follows:
26 Shareholder Clubs: 63%
6 Shareholder Leagues: 25%
IIHF: 12%
The shareholders of the CHL have, through the General Meeting, appointed the following Board and respective shareholder representatives. The Board is the CHL’s executive body.
CHL Shareholders
The group of shareholders can be summarized as set out below.
Shareholder 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, shareholder clubs had guaranteed playing rights. Since the 2017/18 season, shareholder clubs have earned their CHL places via qualification on sporting merits in their domestic leagues alone.
Shareholder Leagues (B-License)
These are clubs that are not "A" licensed clubs but that are national champions or regular season winners from a Shareholder League from the previous season or as per appointment according to a performance-related formula where finishing among the top teams in 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 Shareholder Leagues or other deserving clubs, and are appointed as per the CHL's 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 diverse participation field.
CHL Board
The Champions Hockey League Board is composed of nine 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 on 3-year terms.
President
Jörgen Lindgren (SWE), President of Champions Hockey League
Clubs
Rupert Zamorsky (AUT), Head of Marketing for Red Bull Salzburg
Petr Syrovatko Jr. (CZE), Vice-President of Bílí Tygři Liberec
Gernot Tripcke (GER), GM of Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL)
Timo Everi (FIN), CHL Vice President, Chairman of IFK Helsinki
Peter Zahner (SUI), CEO of ZSC Lions Zurich
Kaarel Lehiste (SWE), Representative of the Swedish shareholder clubs
Leagues
Christian Feichtinger (AUT), CEO of the ICE Hockey League
IIHF
Henrik Bach Nielsen (DEN), CHL Vice President, IIHF Regional Vice-President Europe & Africa
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
Alexander Jäger, Sport Director
Monika Reinhard, Communication & Digital Media Director
Philip Schuler, Marketing & Events Director
Fadri Holinger, Sport Coordinator
Stefani Stajic, Communication & Digital Media Coordinator
Jelle van Waardenburg, Marketing & Events Coordinator