WHO HAS THE BEST FANS?

Kai “Kaiza” Mertes won the fan ranking of the CHL Fan Challenge and was invited to the CHL Final in Gothenburg, where he was awarded the CHL Fan Challenge Trophy.

ZURICH FANS TAKE IT ALL

Who has the best fans in the Champions Hockey League? We set out to find out during the 2018/19 season. Across a variety of interactive online and offline challenges, fans and teams were ranked against other across Europe to see who came out on top.

Ahead of the season start in August the CHL launched its new Fan Challenge, designed to find out which of the 32 teams in the competition has the best fans. The interactive platform offered ice hockey enthusiasts from all over the world a virtual place to meet, to compete and to learn about the CHL and the participating teams.

By playing, fans were able to win great prizes for themselves – the ultimate of which being a VIP trip for two to the CHL Final. In addition, they also collected points for their favourite team, with prize money for the Top 3 teams of both the Group Stage and the Playoffs.

"One of the key findings of our big fan survey from November 2017 was that we need to do more to increase the CHL fan experience," explained CEO Martin Baumann. "We looked at a variety of ideas and proposals, but something fans of all 32 teams across Europe could take part in, both on- and offline, and win things for both themselves and their team, was something we thought ticked those boxes."

Online challenges included a Prediction Game, Hockey Manager, Voting for the Best Goal Songs, and making predictions as to who would be Top Scorer for both each fans’ own favourite team and across the entire CHL. Offline, fans were measured to see how loud they were at home games. The CHL Fan Challenge further provided a detailed 'Away travel' section, where teams provided useful information about visiting their cities for games – the most helpful profiles were rewarded with additional points from fans.

The first CHL Fan Challenge ended with a runaway victory for ZSC Lions Zurich. The Swiss side managed to activate their fans the most, and won both the Group Stage and Playoff team ranking, which led to accumulated prize money of 15,000 Euros. “We are proud of our fans and of making history by being the first club to ever win the CHL Fan Challenge," CMO Roger Gemperle said. “We reminded our fans consistently about the upcoming Fan Challenge activities by using the tools provided by the CHL – which provided pleasing results." The club will invest the earned prize money partly into its own, and fan, activities.

The CHL Fan Challenge will be back in 2019/20 with new features and innovations. Stay tuned! www.chl-fan-challenge.com