The Champions Hockey League together with its media & marketing partner Infront have decided to allocate a Wild Card to Olimpija Ljubljana for the upcoming 2022/23 season. Olimpija Ljubljana join the competition as Ukrainian representatives HC Donbass Donetsk are forced to withdraw from the upcoming CHL season due to the ongoing situation in their country.
“The act of war against Ukraine is a tragedy, and it is unimaginable what suffering it is causing the people of Ukraine. It is of course comprehensible that HC Donbass Donetsk are unable to participate in the 2022/23 CHL season under such circumstances and we would like to thank the club for their commitment and the huge amount of effort they put into their first CHL appearance last season,” a CHL Board statement read.
“It is the CHL’s objective via the Wild Card system to appoint deserving clubs and to contribute to the development of European club ice hockey by having a participation field as internationally diverse as possible. The nomination of Olimpija Ljubljana offers us the opportunity to add a new country to the CHL map. The club is on the rise and just concluded its first season in the ICE-HL in a decent manner. For this reason, it was decided to allocate a Wild Card and the 32nd place in the 2022/23 CHL season line-up to them,” the CHL Board concluded.