Ligue Magnus
Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 Ligue Magnus season
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| Sport | Ice hockey |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1906 |
| No. of teams | 12 |
| Country | France |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Rouen Dragons |
| Most titles | Chamonix (30) |
| Official website | liguemagnus.com |
Ligue Magnus is the current name for the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. Unusually, the entire division bears the name of a person, Frenchman and IIHF founder Louis Magnus.
The league actually took its name from its pre-existing championship trophy, the Magnus Cup, in 2004. From the 2016–17 season, the league is officially known as Saxoprint Ligue Magnus, due to a sponsorship deal with Saxoprint, the online printing subsidiary of German conglomerate .
12 teams play a 44-game regular season. The schedule is fully balanced and there are no geographic conferences.
The top 8 teams qualify for the Magnus Cup playoffs, with all series contested in a best-of-seven format. The remaining 4 teams play a 6-game round-robin, at the end of which the last-place team is relegated.
The Magnus Cup champions qualify for the following season's Champions Hockey League.
Game night rosters must include at least 11 players who have spent 3 or more years in the French hockey system before the age of 21.
French citizenship itself is not a requirement to qualify for non-import status, as long as the player meets the above criteria. Conversely, a citizen of France who was fully trained in a foreign country will count as an import regardless of his French citizenship.
The Ligue Magnus is considered a mid-tier European league. The International Ice Hockey Federation ranks it below the Central European Erste Bank Eishockey Liga or the Norwegian league, but ahead of the Dutch and British leagues.
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