European Women's Hockey League
Most recent season or competition: 2020–21 EWHL season | |
Formerly | Elite Women's Hockey League, 2005–2019 |
---|---|
Sport | Ice hockey |
Founded | 2004 |
Founder | International Ice Hockey Federation |
Inaugural season | 2004–05 |
Director | Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation |
President | Martin Kogler |
No. of teams | 11 |
Countries | Austria, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Slovakia |
Headquarters | Göstingerstraße 111 Graz, Austria |
Most recent champion(s) | KMH Budapest, 2020–21 (3) |
Most titles | (6) |
Sponsor(s) | Tippmix |
International cup(s) | EWHL Super Cup |
Official website | ewhl.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[]
Former teams[]
Austria Belarus Croatia Czech Republic
|
Denmark Germany Hungary Italy Netherlands
|
Slovakia
Slovenia
|
Championship[]
Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Teams |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | 8 | |||
2005–06 | 11 | |||
2006–07 | Ravens Salzburg |
12 | ||
2007–08 | Ravens Salzburg |
11 | ||
2008–09 | 8 | |||
2009–10 | Ravens Salzburg |
6 | ||
2010–11 | 8 | |||
2011–12 | 6 | |||
2012–13 | Salzburg Eagles |
6 | ||
7 | ||||
Salzburg Eagles |
6 | |||
Salzburg Eagles |
Aisulu Almaty |
7 | ||
Salzburg Eagles |
8 | |||
8 | ||||
9 | ||||
Aisulu Almaty |
10 | |||
2020–21 | 9 |
Medal table by club[]
# | Club | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Medals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 | |
2 | / | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
6 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
9 | DEC Salzburg Eagles/EC Ravens Salzburg | 0 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
13 | Aisulu Almaty | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
See also[]
- EWHL Super Cup
- Austria women's ice hockey Bundesliga
- German women's ice hockey Bundesliga
- Switzerland women's ice hockey league
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.
- ^ The Netherlands wishing to offer more competitive matches to their top Women players. Source: EWHL Website
- ^ "EWHL-Premiere in Sterzing". EV Bozen Hockey Academy (in German). 8 September 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ Krzywicki, Benjamin (27 June 2019). "Three Polish National Teams to Play In Foreign Leagues". Polish Puck. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ Manninen, Henrik (19 October 2019). "EWHL goes to Central Asia". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "EWHL to move under the HIHF". visegradhockey.hu. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
External links[]
- EWHL News
- EWHL Website
- European Women's Hockey Journal (in German)
- Elite Women's Hockey League
- Women's ice hockey leagues in Europe
- Sports leagues established in 2004
- 2004 establishments in Europe
- Multi-national ice hockey leagues in Europe
- Multi-national sports leagues in Europe
- Multi-national professional sports leagues