Champions Hockey League Senior Sport Advisor and former head coach Bo Lennartsson passed away this week at age 65 following a period of illness.

In his role as Sport Advisor, Bo was with the Champions Hockey League since its foundation and was a driving force on the continent for many years in building a pan-European club ice hockey competition.

He held leadership roles in ice hockey since the early 1980s. With Färjestad Karlstad from 1997 to 2006, both as a Head Coach and an Assistant, the club won two national championships and went to the Swedish finals two other times.

Bo’s coaching career also included two years with the Swedish national junior team. In international competition, he coached Sweden’s junior team at the 2001 and 2002 IIHF World Junior Championship. He was later Färjestad’s Director of Player Development before becoming Tournament Director of the European Trophy from 2010 to 2013. He was an integral part of the process which saw the European Trophy successfully integrated into the Champions Hockey League. 

“The way he stood up for his visions and pursued them with tremendous joy, passion and perseverance made him a role model. Bo will be missed by all of us who had the honour of having him in our everyday lives. Our thoughts are with his family,” the Champions Hockey League said in a statement on its website.