The 2025–26 Champions Hockey League was the 11th season of the Champions Hockey League, a European ice hockey tournament. The tournament was competed by 24 teams, with qualification being on sporting merits only. Apart from the reigning champion, the six founding leagues were represented by three teams each, while five "challenge leagues" were represented by one team each.
Swiss team ZSC Lions were the title holders having won their first Champions Hockey League title, defeating Swedish team Färjestad BK 2–1 in the 2025 final.
Team allocation A total of 24 teams from different European first-tier leagues participate in the league. Besides the title holders ZSC Lions, 18 teams from the six founding leagues, as well as the national champions from Denmark, France, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom participate.
The qualification criteria for national leagues is based on the following rules: CHL champions National league champions (play-off winners) Regular season winners Regular season runners-up Regular season third-placed team
Note: the national league champions of the United Kingdom are distinct from the national champions, who are determined in play-offs following the regular season.
Teams Team City/Area League Qualification Participation Previous best Zürich National League 2025 CHL winners 9th Champion Luleå HF Luleå Swedish Hockey League Play-off winners 6th Champion Brynäs IF Gävle Swedish Hockey League Regular season winners 2nd Quarter-finals Frölunda HC Gothenburg Swedish Hockey League Regular season third-place 9th Champion Lausanne National League Regular season winners 4th Quarter-finals Bern National League Regular season third place 7th Quarter-finals Zug National League Regular season fourth place 9th Semi-finals Eisbären Berlin Berlin Deutsche Eishockey Liga Play-off winners 8th Quarter-finals ERC Ingolstadt Ingolstadt Deutsche Eishockey Liga Regular season winners 5th Round of 16 Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven Deutsche Eishockey Liga Regular season third-place 3rd Quarter-finals Kometa Brno Brno Czech Extraliga Play-off winners 3rd Quarter-finals Sparta Praha Prague Czech Extraliga Regular season winners 7th Final Mountfield HK Hradec Králové Czech Extraliga Regular season runners-up 5th Final KalPa Kuopio Liiga Play-off winners 5th Round of 16 Lukko Rauma Liiga Regular season winners 6th Semi-finals Ilves Tampere Liiga Regular season runners-up 4th Round of 16 Red Bull Salzburg Salzburg ICE Hockey League Play-off winners 10th Semi-finals EC KAC Klagenfurt ICE Hockey League Regular season winners 6th Round of 16 HC Bolzano Bolzano ICE Hockey League Regular season third-place 5th Round of 16 Belfast Giants Belfast Elite Ice Hockey League Regular season winners 4th Group stage Storhamar Hamar EliteHockey Ligaen Play-off winners 4th Round of 16 Brûleurs de Loups Grenoble Ligue Magnus Play-off winners 4th Group stage Odense Bulldogs Odense Metal Ligaen Play-off winners 1st — GKS Tychy Tychy Polska Hokej Liga Play-off winners 3rd Group stage
Round and draw dates The schedule of the competition is as follows. PhaseRoundDraw dateFirst legSecond legGroup stageMatchday 121 May 202528–29 August 2025Matchday 230–31 August 2025Matchday 34–5 September 2025Matchday 46–7 September 2025Matchday 57–8 October 2025Matchday 614–15 October 2025PlayoffRound of 16No drawQuarter-finals2–3 December 202516 December 2025Semi-finals13–14 January 202620–21 January 2026Final3 March 2026
Regular season
In the regular season the 24 teams were combined into one table. Each team played home and away against six different opponents once. The best sixteen teams qualified to the round of 16.
The draw of the regular season took place on 21 May 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden. Pots The participating teams were seeded into Pots A to D according to their achievements in their national leagues and their respective league’s standing in the CHL league ranking. The reigning CHL champions ZSC Lions were the top seeded team and therefore given a place in pot A. The top pot also contained the reigning champions of four of the top five founding leagues according to the league rankings (Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic and Finland), as well as the 2024–25 NL regular season winners Lausanne HC. Pot D contained 2024–25 ICE Hockey League regular season third-placed HC Bolzano and champions of five challenger leagues.
Pot APot BPot CPot D
Grid
A1 Kometa BrnoA2 Lausanne HCA3 Luleå HFA4 Eisbären BerlinA5 ZSC LionsA6 KalPaB1 ERC IngolstadtB2 SC BernB3 LukkoB4 Sparta PrahaB5 Red Bull SalzburgB6 Brynäs IFC1 Mountfield HKC2 EV ZugC3 Frölunda HCC4 Fischtown PinguinsC5 EC KACC6 IlvesD1 Belfast GiantsD2 HC BolzanoD3 Brûleurs de LoupsD4 GKS TychyD5 StorhamarD6 Odense Bulldogs
League table
Regular season tie-breaking criteria Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win in regulation time, 2 points for a win in overtime, 1 point for a loss in overtime, 0 points for a loss in regulation time). If two or more teams were tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria was applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings (see 8.4.4. Tie breaking formula group stage standings): Greater number of wins in regulation time (3 point wins); Greater number of wins in total (regulation time wins + overtime and shootout wins); Better goal difference; More goals scored; Greater number of points in away games; More away goals scored; The higher position in the CHL Draw pot allocation.
Results
Playoffs
Format In the playoffs, pairings are formed based on the positions of the teams in the regular season as follows: the team finished 1st in the regular season will face the team finished 16th, the team finished 2nd will face the team finished 15th, and so on. There was no play-off draw and won't be any reseedings for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. In each round except the final, the teams will play two games and the aggregate score will decide which team advances. The first leg was hosted by the team with the lower seed with the second leg being played on the home ice of the other team. If aggregate score is tied, a sudden death overtime follows. If the overtime is scoreless, the team who wins the shoot out competition advances.
The final will be played on the home ice of the team with the higher accumulative ranking across the entire campaign, including play-off games.
Bracket
Round of 16 The first legs were played on 11 and 12 November with return legs played on 18 and 19 November 2025.
(1) Ilves vs. (16) Fischtown Pinguins
(2) KalPa vs. (15) ZSC Lions
(3) Frölunda HC vs. (14) Brûleurs de Loups
(4) HC Sparta Praha vs. (13) EV Zug
(5) Lukko vs. (12) Storhamar
(6) ERC Ingolstadt vs. (11) Red Bull Salzburg
(7) SC Bern vs. (10) Brynäs IF
(8) Kometa Brno vs. (9) Luleå HF
Quarter-finals The first legs were on 2 and 3 December with return legs played on 16 December 2025.
(1) Ilves vs. (9) Luleå HF
(2) KalPa vs. (10) Brynäs IF
(3) Frölunda HC vs. (6) ERC Ingolstadt
(5) Lukko vs. (13) EV Zug
Semi-finals The first legs were played on 13 January with return legs played on 20 January 2026.
(9) Luleå HF vs. (13) EV Zug
(3) Frölunda HC vs. (10) Brynäs IF
Final
Statistics Scoring leaders The following players lead the league in points.
Player Team EV Zug 11 6 7 13 6 0 3 1 0 36 16.67% ERC Ingolstadt 9 6 6 12 2 +1 1 2 0 37 16.22% EV Zug 12 5 7 12 0 +1 0 3 0 47 10.64% Frölunda HC 13 3 9 12 2 +10 0 2 0 21 14.29% Frölunda HC 13 2 10 12 6 0 1 2 0 37 5.41% Luleå HF 12 2 9 11 8 +2 2 0 0 19 10.53% EV Zug 8 6 4 10 14 +4 0 2 0 14 42.86% Lukko 10 4 6 10 4 +3 1 1 0 24 16.67% Frölunda HC 12 4 6 10 8 +2 2 1 0 19 21.05% KalPa 9 3 7 10 2 +1 0 0 0 14 21.43%
Leading goaltenders The following goaltenders lead the league in save percentage, provided that they have played at least 40% of their team's minutes.
Player Team Sparta Praha 4 4 0 64 4 94.12% 0.98 1 245 Storhamar 5 3 2 140 10 93.33% 2.00 0 300 Frölunda HC 6 3 1 123 10 92.48% 1.68 1 357 Frölunda HC 7 6 1 117 10 92.13% 1.43 1 420 Lukko 7 6 1 128 11 92.09% 1.58 1 418
Awards Team of the Regular Season The Team of the Regular Season was announced on 31 October 2025. Position Player Team Goaltender Markus Røhnebæk Stensrud Storhamar Defenceman Eric Gélinas Lukko Defenceman Mason Klee Odense Bulldogs Forward Mārtiņš Dzierkals Sparta Praha Forward François Beauchemin Brûleurs de Loups Forward Jan Urbas Fischtown Pinguins
MVP LGT MVP Award nominees were announced on 15 and 16 January 2026. Player Team Max Friberg Frölunda HC Jack Kopacka Brynäs IF Riley Barber ERC Ingolstadt Dominik Kubalík EV Zug Henrik Tömmernes Frölunda HC
Home Game and Overall
Pos. Team Regular season Playoffs Overall 2024–25average Matches Attendance Matches Attendance Matches Total Average 1 SC Bern 3 20,260 1 4,602 4 24,862 6,216 — 2 Belfast Giants 3 14,333 0 — 3 14,333 4,778 — 3 Frölunda HC 3 8,767 4 24,406 7 33,173 4,739 — 4 Eisbären Berlin 3 13,991 0 — 3 13,991 4,664 4,230 5 Lausanne HC 3 13,975 0 — 3 13,975 4,658 4,695 6 ZSC Lions 3 14,904 1 2,713 4 17,617 4,404 5,465 7 EV Zug 3 11,763 3 13,237 6 25,000 4,167 — 8 Brûleurs de Loups 3 12,329 1 4,208 4 16,537 4,134 — 9 Brynäs IF 3 13,136 3 10,987 6 24,123 4,021 — 10 Storhamar Hockey 3 11,548 1 3,639 4 15,187 3,797 3,201 11 HC Kometa Brno 3 12,334 1 2,142 4 14,476 3,619 — 12 Pinguins Bremerhaven 3 11,364 1 3,048 4 14,412 3,603 4,240 13 HC Sparta Praha 3 10,756 1 3,288 4 14,044 3,511 6,646 14 Luleå HF 3 10,141 3 8,636 6 18,777 3,130 — 15 EC KAC 3 8,690 0 — 3 8,690 2,897 2,710 16 Mountfield HK 3 8,657 0 — 3 8,657 2,886 — 17 HC Bolzano 3 8,612 0 — 3 8,612 2,871 — 18 Red Bull Salzburg 3 8,277 1 2,931 4 11,208 2,802 2,160 19 KalPa 3 7,923 2 5,579 5 13,502 2,700 — 20 ERC Ingolstadt 3 7,765 2 5,531 5 13,296 2,659 — 21 Lukko 3 8,770 2 4,330 5 13,100 2,620 — 22 Ilves 3 6,591 2 4,634 5 11,225 2,245 4,824 23 GKS Tychy 3 6,144 0 — 3 6,144 2,048 — 24 Odense Bulldogs 3 4,359 0 — 3 4,359 1,453 — Tournament total 72 255,389 29 103,911 101 359,300 3,557 4,070
Source: Champions Hockey League. The dash indicates that the team did not participate in the 2024–25 competition.
References