ZURICH – Bulgarian champion CSKA Sofia, which won the first round of the 2015/2016 IIHF Continental Cup, has renounced its participation in the second round due to financial problems.

Despite the fact that the regulations foresee a fine for a withdrawal that will drastically reduce the prize money for winning the first round, the Bulgarian champion will not participate in the second round where it was supposed to play in Group C in Tychy, Poland.

The right to replace CSKA Sofia was given to the teams ranked behind the Bulgarians in the first round and Partizan Belgrade from Serbia accepted the invitation to participate in Group C where they will play host GKS Tychy, the Coventry Blaze (Great Britain) and Dunarea Galati (Romania) at the end of this week from 23 to 25 October.

At the same time Group B will be played in Miskolc, Hungary, with host Miskolci Jegesmedvek, Mogo Riga (Latvia), Acroni Jesenice (Slovenia) and CH Jaca (Spain).

The winner of each group will move on to the third round that will be played 20-22 November in two tournaments in Asiago, Italy, and Rouen, France.