European Women's Hockey League

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European Women's Hockey League
Most recent season or competition:
2020–21 EWHL season
2019 EWHL Logo.png
FormerlyElite Women's Hockey League, 2005–2019
SportIce hockey
Founded2004 (2004)
FounderInternational Ice Hockey Federation
Inaugural season2004–05
DirectorHungarian Ice Hockey Federation
PresidentMartin Kogler
No. of teams11
CountriesAustria, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Slovakia
HeadquartersGöstingerstraße 111
Graz, Austria
Most recent
champion(s)		Hungary KMH Budapest, 2020–21 (3)
Most titlesAustria (6)
Sponsor(s)Tippmix
International cup(s)EWHL Super Cup
Official websiteewhl.com

The European Women's Hockey League or EWHL, called the Elite Women's Hockey League during 2004 to 2019, is an international league for top women's ice hockey clubs. Created in 2004 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the EWHL comprises clubs from several countries in Central Europe and one team from Kazakhstan, and is played in parallel to national championships.

History[]

The EWHL was created in 2004 on the same principle as the men's ice hockey Interliga. For its first season, the EWHL featured teams from Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. During the following seasons, women's teams from Slovakia (2005), Croatia (2006) and the Czech Republic (2007) joined the league. In 2008, the Italian and Hungarian teams gave way to two clubs from Germany. During the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, the Netherlands national team participated in the EWHL.[1]

Before the 2019–20 season, the Elite Women's Hockey League was renamed, becoming the European Women's Hockey League to reflect its unique position within European women's hockey.[2] Also, the Polish women's national team joined the league in 2019, playing as the Silesia Brackens.[3] The Hungarian team KMH Budapest rejoined the league, and MAC Budapest was added.

The EWHL is mostly played in a championship format with home and away matches, with the exception of the 2005–06 season where the teams were distributed in two regional divisions followed by qualifying rounds. For the 2010–11 season, the regular season was followed by a play-off between the four teams at the top of the league table.

Though they joined the league in the 2015–16 season, Kazakh team Aisulu Almaty has played only two EWHL games from their home arena, Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, due to the significant travel distance. The 2019–20 season provided the first opportunity for Aisulu to play EWHL matches in front of a home crowd, when they hosted the for a two game series during 19–20 October 2019.[4]

Since the 2019–20 season, the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation has overseen the league. The league president is Martin Kogler.[5]

Teams[]

2021–22 season[]

Team name Location Home venue Head coach
Aisulu Almaty Kazakhstan Almaty Baluan Sholak Sports Palace
Hungary Budapest
DEC Salzburg Eagles Austria Salzburg Eisarena Salzburg Johanna Ikonen
Austria Vienna Erste Bank Arena
Italy Bolzano PalaOnda
Hungary Budapest
Austria Villach Stadthalle Villach
Hungary Budapest Kisstadion
Austria Neuberg an der Mürz Sportzentrum Kapfenberg
Poland Katowice
Slovakia Bratislava

Former teams[]

Championship[]

Years 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Teams
2004 Austria
 Slovenia
 Italy
 8
2005–06 Slovakia
 Slovenia
 Italy
 11
2006–07 Slovakia
 Austria
Ravens Salzburg 		Slovenia
 12
2007–08 Czech Republic
 Austria
Ravens Salzburg 		Austria
 11
2008–09 Czech Republic
 Germany
 Germany
 8
2009–10 Germany
 Austria
Ravens Salzburg 		Austria
 6
2010–11 Austria
 Slovakia
 Germany
 8
2011–12 Austria
 Slovakia
 Belarus
 6
2012–13 Belarus
 Austria
 Austria
Salzburg Eagles 		6
Italy
 Austria
 Austria
 7
Austria
 Italy
 Austria
Salzburg Eagles 		6
Austria
 Austria
Salzburg Eagles 		Kazakhstan
Aisulu Almaty 		7
Italy
 Austria
Salzburg Eagles 		Slovakia
 8
Austria
 Italy
 Hungary
 8
Hungary
 Austria
 Italy
 9
Hungary
 Hungary
 Kazakhstan
Aisulu Almaty 		10
2020–21 Hungary
 Austria
 Slovakia
 9

Medal table by club[]

# Club 1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Medals
1 Austria 6 2 3 11
2 Slovakia / 2 2 2 6
3 Czech Republic 2 0 0 2
4 Hungary 3 0 1 4
5 Italy 2 2 1 4
6 Germany 1 0 2 3
7 Italy 1 0 1 2
7 Belarus 1 0 1 2
9 Austria DEC Salzburg Eagles/EC Ravens Salzburg 0 5 2 7
10 Slovenia 0 2 1 3
11 Hungary 0 1 1 2
12 Germany 0 1 0 1
12 Austria 0 1 0 1
13 Kazakhstan Aisulu Almaty 0 0 2 2
14 Italy 0 0 1 1

See also[]

References[]

This article incorporates information from the existing French Wikipedia article at fr:Ligue élite féminine de hockey and the existing German Wikipedia article at de:European Women’s Hockey League; see their histories for attribution.

  1. ^ The Netherlands wishing to offer more competitive matches to their top Women players. Source: EWHL Website
  2. ^ "EWHL-Premiere in Sterzing". EV Bozen Hockey Academy (in German). 8 September 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  3. ^ Krzywicki, Benjamin (27 June 2019). "Three Polish National Teams to Play In Foreign Leagues". Polish Puck. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  4. ^ Manninen, Henrik (19 October 2019). "EWHL goes to Central Asia". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  5. ^ "EWHL to move under the HIHF". visegradhockey.hu. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.

External links[]

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