IIHF Continental Cup

IIHF Continental Cup

Current season	2019/20
sport	ice Hockey
Association	IIHF
League foundation	1997
Teams	19th
Title holder	Arlan Kokshetau
Record champions	HK Junost Minsk (3 tracks)
Website	www.iihf.com
↑ Champions Hockey League

The IIHF Continental Cup is an ice hockey - European cup competition for club teams introduced by the International Ice Hockey Federation IIHF for the 1997/98 season .

The national champions of the European leagues that do not take part in the Champions Hockey League (CHL) are eligible to participate. From the so-called Challenge Leagues , whose champions take part in the CHL, the runner-up champions are entitled to take part in the Continental Cup.

mode

The competition is played out in several rounds with groups of four teams each. The groups are played over a weekend. The representatives of stronger countries join in the later rounds. The winners of the respective groups qualify for the next round. The group games take place in September, October and November.

Since 2014, the two best teams from the two semi-final groups have taken part in the final tournament in January. The IIHF Continental Cup winner has qualified for the Champions Hockey League since the 2016 season .

history

With the IIHF Federation Cup , there was a forerunner of the Continental Cup for Eastern and Southern European clubs from 1994 to 1996.

With the introduction of the European Hockey League (EHL), the highest European Cup competition was limited to the strongest leagues in Europe. To compensate for this, the Continental Cup was introduced as the second competition in 1997. For this, each European association could provide up to three teams that had not qualified for the EHL. The Continental Cup took over the group mode of the 1997 European Ice Hockey Cup .

After the EHL was discontinued, champions of the stronger leagues sometimes also took part in the Continental Cup from 2000 to 2004. The highlight was the 2003 final between the Finnish champion Jokerit Helsinki and the Russian champion Lokomotive Yaroslavl . Only Sweden refused to compete, other countries sent weaker clubs to compete, e.g. B. Mikkelin Jukurit, the champions of the Finnish second division, took part several times.

In 2005, the IIHF European Champions Cup (ECC) was introduced, a new, highest European competition for the national champions of the six strongest countries. Participation in the Continental Cup was limited to one club per country. With the introduction of the short-lived first Champions Hockey League (CHL) in 2008 with 14 participants, the Continental Cup was further weakened. After the end of the CHL, the Continental Cup was reopened for all associations, but the strongest national champions stayed away from the competition. From Germany, z. B. the champions of the 2nd ice hockey Bundesliga or DEL2 .

Since 2014, the associations of the six so-called founding leagues (Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Germany) of the new Champions Hockey League can no longer participate in the Continental Cup. The Challenge Leagues (currently Norway, Denmark, France, Slovakia, Great Britain, Belarus, Poland) can send a participant to the Continental Cup, the champion is qualified for the CHL. The winner of the Continental Cup is qualified for the CHL in the following season.

Previous tournament winners

season	Venue of the final tournament	Attendees	winner	Second	Third
1997	Tampere , Finland	42	TJ VSŽ Košice	Polar bears Berlin	Ilves Tampere
1998	Košice , Slovakia	49	HC Ambrì-Piotta	HC Košice	HK Awangard Omsk
1999	Berlin , Germany	49	HC Ambrì-Piotta	Polar bears Berlin	Ak Bars Kazan
2000/01	Zurich , Switzerland	46	ZSC Lions Zurich	London Knights	HC Slovan Bratislava
2001/02	Zurich , Switzerland	49	ZSC Lions Zurich	HC Milano Vipers	HKm Zvolen
2002/03	Lugano , Switzerland Milan , Italy	44	Jokerit Helsinki	Yaroslavl locomotive	HC Lugano
2003/04	Gomel , Belarus	39	HC Slovan Bratislava	HK Homel	HC Lugano
2004/05	Székesfehérvár , Hungary	20th	HKm Zvolen	HK Dynamo Moscow	Alba Volán Székesfehérvár
2005/06	Székesfehérvár , Hungary	21st	HK Lada Tolyatti	HK Riga 2000	ZSC Lions Zurich
2006/07	Székesfehérvár , Hungary	19th	HK Junost Minsk	HK Awangard Omsk	Ilves Tampere
2007/08	Riga , Latvia	17th	Ak Bars Kazan	HK Riga 2000	Kaszink torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk
2008/09	Rouen , France	19th	MHC Martin	Dragons de Rouen	HC Bolzano
2009/10	Grenoble , France	19th	EC Red Bull Salzburg	HK Junost Minsk	Sheffield Steelers
2010/11	Minsk , Belarus	19th	HK Junost Minsk	EC Red Bull Salzburg	Sønderjysk Elitesport Vojens
2011/12	Rouen , France	18th	Dragons de Rouen	HK Junost Minsk	HK Donbass Donetsk
2012/13	Donetsk , Ukraine	19th	HK Donbass Donetsk	Metallurgist Schlobin	Dragons de Rouen
2013/14	Rouen , France	19th	Stavanger Oilers	HK Donbass Donetsk	Asiago Hockey
2014/15	Bremerhaven , Germany	16	HK Nyoman Hrodna	Fischtown Pinguins Bremerhaven	Ducs d'Angers
2015/16	Rouen , France	17th	Dragons de Rouen	Herning Blue Fox	GKS Tychy
2016/17	Renon , Italy	19th	Nottingham Panthers	HK Beibarys Atyrau	Odense Bulldogs
2017/18	Minsk , Belarus	17th	HK Junost Minsk	Nomad Astana	Sheffield Steelers
2018/19	Belfast , Northern Ireland	17th	HK Arlan Kökschetau	Belfast Giants	GKS Katowice
2019/20	Vojens , Denmark	20th	SønderjyskE Vojens	Nottingham Panthers	HK Nyoman Hrodna

statistics

Leaderboards

by country

rank	country	title	2nd place	3rd place
1	Belarus	4th	4th	1
2	Slovakia	4th	1	2
3	Switzerland	4th	-	3
4th	Russia	2	3	2
5	France	2	1	2
6th	United Kingdom	1	3	2
7th	Kazakhstan	1	2	1
8th	Denmark	1	1	2
9	Ukraine	1	1	1
10	Austria	1	1	-
11	Finland	1	-	2
12	Norway	1	-	-
13	Germany	-	3	-
14th	Latvia	-	2	-
15th	Italy	-	1	2
16	Poland	-	-	2
17th	Hungary	-	-	1

literature

• Stephan Müller: International Ice Hockey Encyclopaedia: 1904 - 2005 . Books on Demand, Norderstedt, Germany 2005, ISBN 978-3-8334-4189-9 , pp. 445-460 .

Web links

• Overview of the IIHF Continental Cup