2020–21 IIHF Continental Cup explained

Tourney Name:	IIHF Continental Cup
Year:	2020–2021
Size:	150 px
Num Teams:	20
Type:	other
Prevseason:	2019–20
Nextseason:	2021–22

The 2020–21 Continental Cup would have been the 24th edition of the IIHF Continental Cup, Europe's second-tier ice hockey club competition organised by International Ice Hockey Federation. The season was scheduled to begin on 16 October 2020 and the final tournament was scheduled to be played from 8 to 10 January 2021.^[1]

The IIHF Council cancelled the tournament during the video conference meeting on August 24, 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[2]

Format

Due to the delayed start of the hockey season in many countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic the tournament was about to have different format, consisting of the qualifying round, group stage and final round. In the qualifying round, 8 qualified teams are divided into two groups. The top two teams of each group advance to the group stage. In the group stage, 16 qualified teams and 4 teams that proceeded from the qualifying round are divided into four groups. The winners of each group advance to the final round.

Qualified teams

Team	Qualification
Enter in the group stage
Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2019–20 Belarusian Extraleague regular season third place
Frederikshavn White Hawks	2019–20 Danish Cup winners
Gothiques d'Amiens	2019–20 Coupe de France winners
Sheffield Steelers	2019–20 EIHL season second place
Yertis Pavlodar (withdrew from the competition, was replaced by Altai Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk^[3])	2019–20 Kazakhstan Hockey Championship regular season runners-up
Unia Oświęcim	2019–20 Polska Hokej Liga regular season runners-up
Ferencvárosi TC (withdrew from the competition^[4])	2019–20 OB I bajnokság champions
Asiago Hockey	2019–20 IHL - Elite champions
Olimp/Venta	2019–20 Latvian Hockey Higher League champions
Csíkszereda	2019–20 Romanian Hockey League champions
Olimpija	2019–20 Slovenian Ice Hockey League champions
Kremenchuk	2019–20 Ukrainian Hockey League champions
Enter in the qualifying round
Kaunas Hockey	2019–20 Lithuania Hockey League regular season winners (abandoned)
FC Barcelona	2019–20 Liga Nacional de Hockey Hielo regular season winners
Skautafélag Akureyrar	2019–20 Icelandic Hockey League champions
HC Bat Yam	2019–20 Israeli Hockey League champions
Crvena Zvezda	2019–20 Serbian Hockey League champions
KHL Mladost	2019–20 Croatian Ice Hockey League champions
Buz Beykoz SK	2019–20 Turkish Ice Hockey Super League champions
Irbis-Skate Sofia	2019–20 Bulgarian Hockey League champions

Qualifying round

Group A

The Group A tournament was scheduled to be played in Akureyri, Iceland, from 16 to 18 October 2020.

Group B

The Group A tournament was scheduled to be played in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 16 to 18 October 2020.

Group stage

Group C

The Group C tournament was scheduled to be played in Amiens, France, from 13 to 15 November 2020.

Group D

The Group D tournament was scheduled to be played in Asiago, Italy, from 13 to 15 November 2020.

Group E

The Group E tournament was scheduled to be played in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from 13 to 15 November 2020.

Group F

The Group F tournament was scheduled to be played in Frederikshavn, Denmark, from 13 to 15 November 2020.

Final round

Continental Cup final tournament was scheduled to be played from 8 to 10 January 2021.

Notes and References

Web site: Continental Cup expands with new format. IIHF. 19 June 2020.
Web site: IIHF cancels Continental Cup. IIHF. 25 August 2020.
Web site: Ertis Pavlodar withdrew from Continental Cup. eurohockey.com. 5 July 2020.
Web site: Ferencvarosi-Telekom withdraws from the Continental Cup. eurohockey.com. 11 August 2020.