The CHL Board said it had been "forced to take this difficult decision as the general situation in Europe has not improved".

Europe's top 32 ice hockey clubs, representing 12 countries, take part in the annual CHL tournament.

Organisers had been hoping to hold the competition in some form this season before a second wave of COVID-19 began sweeping across the continent.

"All things considered, the CHL Board had to come to the very difficult conclusion that playing a 2020-2021 season is not manageable for the Champions Hockey League or the participating clubs from both an operational and economic perspective," CHL President Peter Zahner said.

"The health and safety of all participating teams is of the highest priority, and with the current development of the epidemiological situation we unfortunately would not be able to guarantee that everyone always returns home in good health and without needing to undergo quarantine restrictions, no matter how sophisticated our protection concepts are.

"We will now take our time to analyse the situation and find ways for our organisation to overcome the difficult time. 

"We are confident that the COVID-19 situation will normalise within the next couple of months and that the CHL will come back in 2021-2022 better than ever."

The CHL was founded by the International Ice Hockey Federation in 2014-2015 as the pan-European club competition in ice hockey.

Sweden-based Frölunda Hockey Club won this year's title after overcoming Mountfield Hokejový Klub of the Czech Republic in the final.