Off-season changes & summary

The playing format for the 2024/25 Champions Hockey League Season remained unchanged from the previous year with 24 teams qualifying and participating.

Three teams qualified from each of the six Shareholder Leagues with the CHL Champions of the previous season earning an extra place for their league.

Five Wild Cards were open and were awarded to the national champions of Denmark, France, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Of the 24 qualified teams, only one made their debut in the pan-European competition in 2024/25 – Unia Oświęcim – while 12 returned from 2023/24 and the remaining 11 teams of the line-up had played in the CHL in the past.

The Champions Hockey League celebrated its 10th Anniversary Season in 2024/25 with a special celebration logo visible on jerseys, graphics and in arenas across Europe, flashback videos and other web and social media content looking back at past CHL seasons.

Ahead of 2024/25, the Champions Hockey League launched a striking new visual identity with the aim of moving the boundaries of European hockey further than anyone before. New colours, typography, graphic language and motion graphics were introduced as the CHL underwent its biggest change in a decade.

Playing Format

Teams were ranked in a combined Regular Season Ranking with the best 16 advancing to the Playoffs after all games had been, and eight of the lowest-ranked teams being knocked out.

The Playoffs (Round of 16, Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals) were played in a two-game, home-and-away, knock-out series, where the winner on goals aggregate advanced to the next round – the same as in the previous format.

Clubs faced each other in the Playoffs based on their position in the Regular Season Standings (1st vs 16th, 2nd vs 15th, etc.).

The Final was a one-game all-or-nothing showdown, played at the venue of the team with the best-accumulated Regular Season and Playoffs record.

Regular Season review | click here for Regular Season Standings 2024/25

Swedish side Färjestad Karlstad were the team to beat in the Regular Season, picking up six consecutive wins to take the Regular Season Winners title with a perfect record and 17 points to their name. 

Future CHL Champions ZSC Lions Zurich finished in a close second place, followed up by Lausanne HC and Fribourg-Gottéron in the top five, showcasing a strong season for Swiss clubs on the pan-European stage. 

One of the biggest surprises of the Regular Season was the performance of EIHL side the Sheffield Steelers who qualified for the Playoffs as the only Challenger League team with 11 points from four wins across the first six games of the season. They were also the only team in the 2024/25 season to beat eventual CHL Champions ZSC Lions Zurich.

CHL first-timers Unia Oświęcim from Poland had a strong season, finishing just below the cut-off line and winning two of their six Regular Season games and losing two only after regulation.

Overall, all four Swiss (Switzerland were allocated four spots due to Genève-Servette winning the 2023/24 CHL season) and all three German and Swedish sides in the 2024/25 line-up moved on to the knockout stages, as did two Finnish teams, two Czech teams, one ICE HL team and one Challenger League team. 

Playoff Review | click here for 2024/25 Road to the Final

Clubs from seven countries entered the Playoffs but that was reduced to five for the Quarter-Finals, while the Semi-Finals featured four teams from three different countries.

Two Liiga teams, the Lahti Pelicans and 2023 CHL Champions Tappara Tampere, entered the Playoffs, but neither of them moved on to the Quarter-Finals.

The Färjestad Karlstad vs. Tappara Tampere match-up was the closest we had as it had to be decided in overtime after two games played. The Swedes beat the resilient and hard-playing Finns to a place in the next round. 

Red Bull Salzburg made the Quarter-Finals for only the second time in their long history of CHL participation, beating the Pelicans home and away to move on.

The Växjö Lakers played a cautious one-goal game in the Vida Arena against Round of 16 opponents Fribourg-Gottéron with the win going the way of the Swedes. That goal would prove the decider in the series following a high-paced 3-3 Return Game in Switzerland.

An all-Czech Round of 16 clash between Sparta Prague and Oceláři Třinec resulted in a sure spot for just one Czech team in the second Playoffs round, with the honour deservedly going to the team from the country's capital, Prague.

Two of three German teams moved on in the race for the European Trophy, with Pinguins Bremerhaven dominating Skellefteå AIK 10-1 on aggregate and Eisbären Berlin knocking the Sheffield Steelers out with two convincing wins.

50% of the Swiss teams in the 2024/25 line-up made the Top 8, as reigning CHL Champions Genève-Servette beat National League rivals Lausanne HC with two big wins in an impressive 16-goal series, and ZSC Lions Zurich showed their might by beating German side Straubing Tigers 11-3 on aggregate.

Quarter-Finals

A clash between the reigning DEL and National League champions was one of the highlights of a diverse set of Quarter-Finals match-ups. The Germans came out strong in both the First Game and the Return Game, taking 3-0 leads in both, but the Swiss side came back in both games to take two wins in the series and book a place in the Semi-Finals in style. 

Genève took on in-form Bremerhaven, but a 4-0 win for the Swiss at home, in large part thanks to a spectacular night from Genève goaltender Antti Raanta, and a controlled 2-2 game on the road, sealed their spot in the Semi-Finals for a second year running.

Czech side Sparta faced a very familiar opponent in the Växjö Lakers in the Quarter-Finals. A three-goal First Game ending in a one-goal advantage for the Swedes made way for a thrilling 10-goal game in the Vida Arena which saw Sparta score four goals in the third period, two of which were scored with under three minutes on the clock, to come back and win the series. 

Färjestad faced Salzburg in the QFs. The Austrians won 3-1 at home, but the Swedes found their stride in their home arena, producing a convincing 6-0 win to secure their place in the Top Four.

Semi-Finals

With 27 goals across the Semi-Finals and both series finishing with 13+ goals scored each, it was all-out battle for the two places in the Final.

Sparta did their absolute best, but Regular Season Winners Färjestad beat them home and away to deny the Czechs a repeat of their CHL Final participation in 2016/17.  

An all-Swiss Semi-Finals match-up made sure that at least one National League team would represent Switzerland in the ultimate game of the CHL calendar. A 6-1 First Game win for Zurich was a buffer that Genève just couldn't overcome, despite their best efforts. 

The Final

Swedish side Färjestad Karlstad made the Final for the very first time in their seven-season CHL history. ZSC Lions Zurich won the previous Champions Hockey League in 2009, but this was their first visit to a CHL Final since.

After the end of the Semi-Finals First Games, it was announced that the hosting rights of CHL Final 2025 would go to the team that ended the Semi-Finals with a better accumulated record over the Regular Season and Playoffs. After the end of the Return Games it was confirmed that Zurich's Swiss Life Arena would host the ultimate game of the season.

Färjestad entered the Final with a 5/6 away game record in the CHL, while Zurich had only lost one game in the Swiss Life Arena all season in the pan-European competition. Both Finalists had scored an equal 49 goals heading into the biggest game of 2024/25.

Tickets for CHL Final 2025 played on 18 February 2025 went on sale and the 12,000 capacity was sold-out ahead of the event. The game started at 20:15 CET.

Sven Andrighetto scored twice in the Final, including the game-winner, and Šimon Hrubec made 31 of 32 saves as Zurich kept the European Trophy in Switzerland with a nail-biting 2-1 victory over Färjestad.

The Swedes scored late to bring the game to within one, but a dominant defensive effort from the Swiss side helped secure their well-deserved win in the 2024/25 Champions Hockey League Final.

Zurich's Sven Andrighetto ended the season as the LGT Top Scorer and was also awarded the LGT MVP Award.