As it boasts many of Europe's most competitive clubs on the ice, it should come as no surprise that many of the teams who compete in the Champions Hockey League are among those with the best home attendance. The IIHF's annual report includes 36 who competed in the CHL this past season, led, as usual, by SC Bern.

by Derek O'Brien

The International Ice Hockey Federation last week released its annual attendance report, ranking the top 100 European clubs in terms of home attendance. From the list, 36 of the clubs competed in the Champions Hockey League in 2014–15, and three others have so far qualified for the 2015–16 season, with others likely to follow.  

Of the top 15 teams on the list, all either competed in the CHL or the Russian-based KHL, the top two competitions for European hockey clubs. SC Bern of Switzerland led the way for the 14th consecutive year with 16,164 per game, dropping slightly from their 2013–14 figure but still ahead of the rest of the pack by a comfortable margin. After that were three German teams – CHL Founding Clubs Eisbaren Berlin and Adler Mannheim, as well as Kolner Haie, who competed in the CHL this past season but missed the DEL playoffs, so they will not return. Other CHL clubs pulling in over 9,000 fans per game are ZSC Lions Zurich from Switzerland and CHL finalists Frolunda Gothenburg from Sweden.

The concentration of German teams near the top (four of the top seven CHL clubs) corresponds to actual CHL attendance, where Eisbaren, Mannheim and Hamburg were the top three.

Fourth best in the pan-European competition were HC Kosice. The Slovak champions are notable for having the best CHL attendance in comparison with their domestic league. To three CHL home games, they averaged 4,698 fans per game, while in the Slovak Extraliga their average was 3,629, still best in the league. 

Most CHL teams have remained relatively stable in home attendance from last year to this, but two that saw significant increases were Djurgarden Stockholm and Ocelari Trinec. Due to their promotion from the Swedish second tier to the SHL, the club from the Swedish capital moved up 15 places from 30th, increasing from 6,142 to 7,924 per game – an increase of 1,782, or 29 percent. Meanwhile, the Czech club moved up 31 places from 92 to 61, no-doubt aided by the combination of a new arena and finishing first place in the regular season. Whereas in 2013–14 Trinec averaged 3,704 per game, this season they jumped to 4,920 – 1,216 more per game, an increase of 33 percent. 

Of the CHL's 26 A-License clubs, 23 of them are in the top 100 in home attendance, representing all six Founding Leagues. Of last year's 12 B-License clubs, 10 are on the list, and so far three of them have re-qualified for next year – Geneve-Servette, Skelleftea AIK and Trinec. Of last year's six C-License clubs, three are on the list. Two of them – the Stavanger Oilers and Kosice – have already re-qualified.

In all, 37 of the 48 clubs that will compete in the CHL in 15–16 made the list. 

The list below, courtesy the IIHF, shows this season's top regular-season averages for home-game attendance. They are ranked accoring to this season's attendance, with last season's rank in the second column. All teams who played in this past year's CHL or have qualified for next season are designated in bold, along with corresponding license and year, if applicable. 

NOTE: Updated to reflect further teams qualifying after the original publication of this article.