The 2008–09 Champions Hockey League was the only season of the Champions Hockey League (2008–09), an IIHF-organized ice hockey tournament for the best club teams in Europe. The season was played with 12 teams from seven countries (two teams each from Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland, one team each from Switzerland, Germany and Slovakia and a 12th team from one of these three countries, determined in a qualification tournament). Every participating team was guaranteed an appearance fee of 300,000 euro and the winner received 1,000,000 euro. Prize money was also be awarded for winning group stage matches (50,000 euro), for the semi-final appearance (200,000 euro) and for the other finalist (500,000 euro). In total, 10 million euros were distributed, the largest prize sum ever in a