The IIHF Continental Cup starts into the new season and it will be the 25th for the European club competition.

20 clubs will represent 20 countries in the 2022/2023 season in the four stage event. The first round starts today with two groups to be held in Istanbul and Sofia with each group winner advancing to the second round.

The four national champions Tartu Valk 494 (Estonia), Skautafelag Akureyrar (Iceland), KHL Sisak (Croatia) and NSA Sofia (Bulgaria) will open the Continental Cup when Group A starts at 16:00 EET in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia.

One hour later the first puck will be dropped in Group B in Istanbul that includes FC Barcelona (Spain), Hockey Punks Vilnius (Lithuania), Buz Adam Istanbul (Türkiye) and the Liege Bulldogs (Belgium).

All games will be streamed live with more information to be found on the tournament page of Group A and Group B respectively where live scores, roster and stats can be found during the three-day round-robin tournaments.

The second round will take place three weeks later in Angers (France) and Asiago (Italy). The third-round tournaments are scheduled for 18-20 November in Cardiff (Great Britain) and Nitra (Slovakia) where the four finalists will be determined. The final tournament is scheduled for 13-15 January 2023 and will be played at the venue of one of the finalists to be determined. Click here for the overview and participants.

During its 25 editions, the IIHF Continental Cup had 197 different clubs from 32 countries involved. 19 different clubs won the winners’ plate of the IIHF Continental Cup coming from 13 different countries. Belarus, Slovakia and Switzerland had most champions (4) while the biggest number of participations came from France, Hungary and Slovenia (34).

The last champion was Cracovia Krakow from Poland, which thanks to the win qualified for the 2022/2023 season of the Champions Hockey League.