The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team HC Davos and played each year in Davos between 26 and 31 December. Currently, all games are held at the Eisstadion Davos.
It was originally devised by Dr. Carl Spengler as a means to promote teams from German-speaking Europe, who might have suffered ostracism in the aftermath of World War I. Eventually, the tournament grew well beyond expectations. Many of Europe's most prestigious clubs and national programs have appeared, including Soviet, Czechoslovak, Swedish, German, and Finnish powerhouses. Through its history, club or national teams from 13 countries have won the tournament, with HC Davos winning the most cups as a club (17), while various teams from Switzerland have won the most cups for one country (23).
Among non-European organizations, Team Canada, Team USA, nationally ranked U.S. collegiate teams, the reigning American Hockey League's Calder Cup champion and the Ontario Hockey Association's champion, and even Team Japan (in 1971, building international experience before playing as hosts of the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics) have competed for the Spengler Cup. Since at least 1990, Team Canada has been the only participant from North America, with the exception of the AHL's Rochester Americans in 1996 and 2013. Future participation of the AHL has been discussed by tournament organisers and the league.
In the 2018 tournament, Finland's KalPa defeated Team Canada 2–1 in the final. The game was decided in the eighth round of a shootout, the first series of game-winning shots in tournament history that determined the winner of the Spengler Cup.
The Spengler Cup tournament was not played in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2025 tournament, hosts HC Davos defeated the U.S. Collegiate Selects 6–3 in the final; Davos thus winning the most championships as a club with 17.
History
Many participating teams are club teams, rather than national teams, where a club team might have players from many nations on the roster. The first tournament was won in 1923 by the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club, composed of Canadians studying at the University of Oxford.The Isis, 23 Jan. 1924, page 19. (Future Prime Minister of Canada Lester Pearson was a member of the Oxford University team in the spring of 1923; however, he returned to Canada in the summer of 1923 and therefore did not compete in the first Spengler Cup played at the end of December 1923 and early January 1924. See: Pearson, Lester B. Mike : The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972, page 50.)
The first 24 tournaments were dominated by host HC Davos (7 wins, 12 runners-up) and the Czechoslovak club team LTC Prague (7 wins, 2 runners-up). The LTC Prague team was shut down by the Czechoslovak communist authorities after players defected at the 1948 Spengler Cup tournament. Between 1965 and 1983, the tournament was dominated by various Czechoslovak and Soviet teams. Since joining the tournament in 1984, Team Canada has been the dominant participant, with 16 wins and 10 runners-up. Team Canada is made up of Canadians predominantly playing in Europe, as the tournament occurs during the NHL and AHL seasons, though active NHL stars Joe Thornton and Rick Nash played for HC Davos during the 2004–05 NHL lockout.
From its inception until 1978, the tournament was played on an outdoor rink. The outdoor rink still exists outside the indoor arena, and is one of the largest outdoor rinks in the world. Starting in 1978, all tournament games have been played indoors.
The Spengler Cup was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the tournament was scheduled to return in 2021, Team Canada withdrew from the competition due to problems scheduling a quarantine isolation period before the start of play, and HC Ambrì-Piotta withdrew from the competition due to COVID-19 cases among the club's players. The 2021 event was ultimately cancelled on 25 December due to COVID cases within HC Davos.
Sponsorship The Spengler Cup is the second-largest sporting event in Switzerland, after tennis' Swiss Indoors in Basel. The tournament had a budget of CHF 11 million in 2016. About 40% of the total tournament budget amount comes from corporate sponsors. Since 1985, UBS has been the main sponsor and presenting partner of the Spengler Cup. Other current major sponsors are Würth, Schenker Storen, Škoda, Calanda, and Hostpoint.ch – each of whom, along with UBS, are the main tournament sponsor of one of the six teams each year.
International broadcasts Bringing international hockey to North American television in the early 2000s, Paul Graham produced coverage of the Spengler Cup during his career in television production.
The Spengler Cup is currently broadcast on Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen in Switzerland, on Eurosport 2 in most of Europe, on Match! Game and NTv2 in Russia, on Sport1 in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, on Šport TV in Slovenia, on TSN and RDS in Canada and on the streaming service Viaplay in the United Kingdom.
Spengler Cup winners
Year Winner Runner-up 1923 Oxford University Berlin SC 1924 Berlin SC HC Davos 1925 Oxford University HC Davos 1926 Berlin SC HC Davos 1927 HC Davos Berlin SC 1928 Berlin SC Cambridge University 1929 LTC Prague HC Davos 1930 LTC Prague HC Davos 1931 Oxford University Berlin SC 1932 LTC Prague Oxford University1 HC Davos 1933 HC Davos Paris Rapides 1934 Diavoli Rossoneri Milano Oxford University 1935 Diavoli Rossoneri Milano HC Davos 1936 HC Davos LTC Prague 1937 LTC Prague HC Davos 1938 HC Davos LTC Prague 1939 Tournament not held due to World War II 1940 1941 HC Davos Berlin SC 1942 HC Davos Zürcher SC 1943 HC Davos Zürcher SC 1944 Zürcher SC HC Davos 1945 Zürcher SC HC Davos 1946 LTC Prague HC Davos 1947 LTC Prague HC Davos 1948 LTC Prague HC Davos 1949 Tournament not held due to high Cold War tensions 1950 Diavoli Rossoneri Milano AIK Stockholm 1951 HC Davos Preussen Krefeld 1952 EV Füssen Zürcher SC 1953 HC Milano Inter HC Davos 1954 HC Milano Inter EV Füssen 1955 Rudá Hvězda Brno HC Davos 1956 Tournament not held for financial reasons 1957 HC Davos Rudá Hvězda Brno 1958 HC Davos Diavoli Rossoneri Milano 1959 ACBB Paris EV Füssen 1960 ACBB Paris HC Davos 1961 ACBB Paris EV Füssen 1962 Sparta Prague EV Füssen 1963 Sparta Prague Klagenfurt AC 1964 EV Füssen Modo Hockey 1965 Dukla Jihlava VIK Västerås HK 1966 Dukla Jihlava CP Liège 1967 Lokomotiv Moscow Kingston Aces 1968 Dukla Jihlava Rögle BK 1969 Lokomotiv Moscow HC Davos 1970 SKA Leningrad Dukla Jihlava 1971 SKA Leningrad Dukla Jihlava 1972 HC Slovan Bratislava Torpedo Gorkiy 1973 HC Slovan Bratislava Traktor Chelyabinsk 1974 HC Slovan Bratislava Team Poland 1975 Czechoslovak Olympic Team Team Finland 1976 USSR B Czechoslovakia B 1977 SKA Leningrad Dukla Jihlava 1978 Dukla Jihlava AIK Stockholm 1979 Krylya Sovetov Moscow Düsseldorfer EG 1980 Spartak Moscow TJ Vítkovice 1981 Spartak Moscow HC Davos 1982 Dukla Jihlava Spartak Moscow 1983 Dynamo Moscow Dukla Jihlava 1984 Team Canada Dukla Jihlava 1985 Spartak Moscow Team Canada 1986 Team Canada Sokil Kiev 1987 Team Canada Krylya Sovetov Moscow 1988 USA Selects Team Canada 1989 Spartak Moscow Färjestad BK 1990 Spartak Moscow Team Canada 1991 / CSKA Moscow HC Lugano 1992 Team Canada Färjestad BK 1993 Färjestad BK HC Davos 1994 Färjestad BK HC Davos 1995 Team Canada Lada Togliatti 1996 Team Canada HC Davos 1997 Team Canada Färjestad BK 1998 Team Canada HC Davos 1999 Kölner Haie Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2000 HC Davos Team Canada 2001 HC Davos Team Canada 2002 Team Canada HC Davos 2003 Team Canada HC Davos 2004 HC Davos Sparta Prague 2005 Metallurg Magnitogorsk Team Canada 2006 HC Davos Team Canada 2007 Team Canada Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2008 Dynamo Moscow Team Canada 2009 Dinamo Minsk HC Davos 2010 SKA Saint Petersburg Team Canada 2011 HC Davos Dinamo Riga 2012 Team Canada HC Davos 2013 Genève-Servette HC CSKA Moscow 2014 Genève-Servette HC Salavat Yulaev Ufa 2015 Team Canada HC Lugano 2016 Team Canada HC Lugano 2017 Team Canada Team Switzerland 2018 KalPa Kuopio Team Canada 2019 Team Canada HC Oceláři Třinec 2020 Tournament not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 2022 HC Ambrì-Piotta Sparta Prague 2023 HC Davos Dynamo Pardubice 2024 HC Fribourg-Gottéron Straubing Tigers 2025 HC Davos U.S. Collegiate Selects
Notes 1 SpenglerCup.ch
Performances
By club +Performance in the Spengler Cup by clubClubWonRunner-upYears wonYears runner-up HC Davos 17 25 1927, 1933, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1951, 1957, 1958, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2023, 2025 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1930, 1935, 1937, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1960, 1969, 1981, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2012 Team Canada 16 10 1984, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 1985, 1988, 1990, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2018 LTC Prague 7 2 1929, 1930, 1932, 1937, 1946, 1947, 1948 1936, 1938 Dukla Jihlava 5 5 1965, 1966, 1968, 1978, 1982 1970, 1971, 1977, 1983, 1984 Spartak Moscow 5 1 1980, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1990 1982 Oxford University 4 1 1923, 1925, 1931, 1932 1934 SKA Leningrad /SKA Saint Petersburg 4 0 1970, 1971, 1977, 2010 – Berlin SC 3 4 1924, 1926, 1928 1923, 1927, 1931, 1941 3 1 1934, 1935, 1950 1958 ACBB Paris 3 0 1959, 1960, 1961 – HC Slovan Bratislava1 3 0 1972, 1973, 1974 – EV Füssen 2 4 1952, 1964 1954, 1959, 1961, 1962 Zürcher SC 2 3 1944, 1945 1942, 1943, 1952 Färjestad BK 2 3 1993, 1994 1989, 1992, 1997 Sparta Prague 2 2 1962, 1963 2004, 2022 HC Milano Inter 2 0 1953, 1954 – Lokomotiv Moscow 2 0 1967, 1969 – Dynamo Moscow 2 0 1983, 2008 – Genève-Servette HC 2 0 2013, 2014 – Rudá Hvězda Brno 1 1 1955 1957 Krylya Sovetov Moscow 1 1 1979 1987 CSKA Moscow 1 1 1991 2013 Metallurg Magnitogorsk 1 1 2005 1999 1 0 1975 – USSR B 1 0 1976 – USA Selects 1 0 1988 – Kölner Haie 1 0 1999 – Dinamo Minsk 1 0 2009 – KalPa Kuopio 1 0 2018 – HC Ambrì-Piotta 1 0 2022 – HC Fribourg-Gottéron 1 0 2024 – HC Lugano 0 3 – 1991, 2015, 2016 AIK Stockholm 0 2 – 1950, 1978 Salavat Yulaev Ufa 0 2 – 2007, 2014 Cambridge University 0 1 – 1928 Paris Rapides 0 1 – 1933 Preussen Krefeld 0 1 – 1951 Klagenfurt AC 0 1 – 1963 Modo Hockey 0 1 – 1964 VIK Västerås HK 0 1 – 1965 CP Liège 0 1 – 1966 Kingston Aces 0 1 – 1967 Rögle BK 0 1 – 1968 Torpedo Gorkiy 0 1 – 1972 Traktor Chelyabinsk 0 1 – 1973 Team Poland 0 1 – 1974 Team Finland 0 1 – 1975 Czechoslovakia B 0 1 – 1976 Düsseldorfer EG 0 1 – 1979 TJ Vítkovice 0 1 – 1980 Sokil Kiev2 0 1 – 1986 Lada Togliatti 0 1 – 1995 Dinamo Riga 0 1 – 2011 Team Switzerland 0 1 – 2017 HC Oceláři Třinec 0 1 – 2019 Dynamo Pardubice 0 1 – 2023 Straubing Tigers 0 1 – 2024 U.S. Collegiate Selects01 – 2025
Notes 1 2
By nation +Performance by nationNationWinnersRunners-up233211910216113135461155164542731281111100401010101
Notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
References
External links
Spengler Cup NHL.com article on Spengler Cup Archive of Hockey Results