The Champions Cup is floorball tournament organized by the International Floorball Federation for the best clubs from the top four countries according to IFF World Ranking. Since 2019, those are Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland, both for men and women. The tournament culminates every year in January both for men's and women's teams, that won in the previous season in their national league and cup competitions. That means, there are eight men's and either women's teams in the tournament in total.[1]
 | |
| Sport | Floorball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1993 |
| No. of teams | 8 men's and 8 women's |
| Countries |  Czech Republic Finland Sweden Switzerland |
| Confederation | IFF |
| Most recent champion(s) | M: Tatran Střešovice W: Thorengruppen (2024) |
| Most titles | M: Sweden (23) W: Sweden (24) |
| Related competitions | EuroFloorball Cup EuroFloorball Challenge Men: Swedish Super League Superliga florbalu F-liiga Unihockey Prime LeagueWomen: Swedish Super League F-liiga Extraliga žen ve florbale Unihockey Prime League |
| Official website | floorballchampionscup |
In various formats, the tournament took place 29 times, the last time in 2024. The first tournament was played in 1993. The new format with eight teams is used since 2024. Swedes won most titles, 23 in men's and 24 in women's tournaments.[2]
There are other tournaments organized for clubs from European countries at lower ranks: EuroFloorball Cup for countries at the fifth through tenth rank, and EuroFloorball Challenge for the rest.[2]
Format
editThe Champions Cup is an elimination tournament. It starts with the beginning of floorball season in late summer/early autumn. Eight teams play both in men's and women's competitions – two teams from each of the top four countries according to the IFF World Ranking. The top-ranked countries are Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland and Switzerland, both for men and women. The top seeded teams in the Champions Cup are the winners of national leagues. For the men's tournament, these are winners of the Swedish Super League, Superliga florbalu, F-liiga and Unihockey Prime League. For the women's tournament, these are the Swedish Super League, F-liiga, Extraliga žen ve florbale and Unihockey Prime League. Second-seeded teams come from national cup competitions. If the same team wins both league and cup, either a runner-up for the cup (Sweden) or the league (all other countries) takes part.
For quarterfinals, the four teams are divided into Northern (Sweden and Finland) and Southern (the Czech republic and Switzerland) conferences. Each of the two teams in a conference hosts one match, starting with a cup winner (or a runner-up). If a winner of the fixture is not decided after the two matches, the second match (hosted by a league winner) is followed by an overtime and, if necessary, a penalty shoot-out. Matchups for the semifinals are decided by a random drawing. The semifinals have the same format as the quarterfinals. Only one match is played in the final, which takes place in January.[1][3]
History of the tournament
editThe first international club tournament was European Cup. It took place the first time in 1993.[2] In 2008, the tournament was renamed to EuroFloorball Cup due to a naming conflict.
In 2011, the tournament was split to the Champions Cup for six teams and the EuroFloorball Cup for the rest. The Champions Cup was played by teams from the top five ranked countries. The hosting country had two teams in the tournament. In all tournaments played in this format, teams from the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland competed. The sixth participant in men's tournament varied throughout the years from Germany, Latvia and Norway. In women's tournament, they were from Latvia, Norway and Russia.
The tournament was further split in 2019 to the Champions Cup for clubs from the top four countries, and EuroFloorball Cup and EuroFloorball Challenge for rest. At the same time, a tournament term was changed from October to January of the next year. For this reason, there was no tournament in 2018. The competing countries alternated in hosting the tournament. The event lasted two days.
Since 2024, the format was changed to include national cup winners too. In quarterfinals, Czech and Swiss teams (southern conference) and Swedish and Finnish teams (northern conference) face each other. For semifinals, opponents are drawn. Both these stages are played in two legged format. In finals, only one game is played.[1]
Men's tournament
edit
Women's tournament
editSee also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "Tournament". IFF. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
- ^ a b c "Tournament History". IFF. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "Cena útěchy pro FBC? I přes porážku v BigBoard Superfinále čeká Ostravu Champions Cup" (in Czech). Retrieved 12 October 2024.
- ^ "Tatran Stresovice win the Men's 2024 Champions Cup". IFF. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "IBF Falun win their fifth Champions Cup title". IFF. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ a b "Champions Cup 2022 in Switzerland cancelled". IFF. 9 December 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Champions Cup 2021 in Switzerland cancelled". IFF. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
- ^ "Storvreta IBK seize Men's Champions Cup 2020". IFF. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ a b "IKSU and Classic win Champions Cup 2019". IFF. 6 January 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "IBF Falun Champions Cup winners again". IFF. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "Thorengruppen win the Women's 2024 Champions Cup". IFF. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
- ^ "First Champions Cup title for Team Thorengruppen IBK". IFF. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ "Täby FC win Women's Champions Cup 2020". IFF. 12 January 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "IKSU from Umeå take the title!". IFF. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
- ^ "Djurgårdens IF IBF wins the Champions Cup 2014". IFF. 5 October 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2020.