The Champions Hockey League was a short-lived ice hockey tournament which was launched in 2008 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) after adopting the proposal put forth by Ovation Sports AG, and only played in the 2008–09 season. Its creation coincided with the IIHF's 100th anniversary and replaced the IIHF European Champions Cup, the previous competition for Europe's top ice hockey teams. The financial reward for progressing to the CHL Group Stage was a portion of the 16.9 million Swiss francs that was distributed between the teams with a 1,000,000 Swiss francs bonus going to the winner; the largest monetary reward ever given in any European ice hockey competition.