- Pardubice looking to improve upon their Quarter-Finals exit last season
- Fehérvár will look to rebound after a less-than-stellar debut last season
- This will be Pardubice's fifth qualification and Fehérvár's second participation
Last year's Champions Hockey League saw Dynamo Pardubice engineer their most successful season with a trip to the Quarter-Finals. Meanwhile, Fehérvár AV19 didn't fare so well during their 2022/23 outing, being ousted in the Group Stage after dropping four of their six contests.
During the 2023/24 campaign, Pardubice maintained their place amongst the top teams, ranking seventh in goals for per game with 3.20 and while being in the top 10 in goals against per game with an average of 2.50, tied with Swedish side Färjestad Karlstad.
Pardubice largely remain the same from last season with four of their top five scorers lacing up for this season, including forwards Lukáš Sedlák (25G, 22A) and Lukáš Radil (21G, 25A). Radil shared the scoring lead with Pardubice defenceman Peter Čerešňák who will also be returning as the Czech side look to advance past the Quarter-Finals for the first time in the CHL tenure.
For their efforts, Fehérvár were defeated in their first four outings before ticking the win column twice against Polish challengers GKS Katowice. This will be the first time the Hungarians are facing a club from Czechia, as one of the dark horses from this year's CHL will look to orchestrate an upset in their opening bid.
Helping the visitors realise this will be their leading scorer from last season, 32-year-old János Hári who posted 19 goals and 38 helpers for 57 points in 47 games. And while they will be without the likes of two of their top five domestic scorers in Daniel Leavens and Tim McGauley, the Hungarians have brought on a trio of new faces spearheaded by Rasmus Kulmala.