25 years of the women's national team: on to its first top-division World Championship
25 years after its first international match in 2001, Austria's women's national team will make its top-division World Championship debut in Esbjerg in 50 days – the culmination of years of development work that ended in historic promotion in 2025.
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GEPA17th April 2025 – Shenzhen, China! The Austrian women's national team made history. An overtime win of 3:2 against the Netherlands, their fourth victory from four games, secured their first-ever promotion to the top-division World Championship. "I am so proud of every single player. I have no words," said match-winning scorer Annika Fazokas. Captain Anna Meixner, who currently plays for Brynäs IF in Sweden, was also emotional after the historic moment: "It is unbelievable for us as a team. I am really proud; we have worked hard for this for a long time."
Women's ice hockey on the rise
This success is no coincidence, but the result of many years of hard work by numerous volunteer players and coaches. It all began on 31st March 2001, when the team lost a friendly against Hungary 1:4. However, they won their second match in Klagenfurt 7:0 against Slovenia. The foundations had therefore been laid, and at their World Championship debut in 2004, they earned promotion to Division C at the Division D World Championship with five emphatic victories.
They remained there for four years before earning promotion to Division B in Finland in 2008 with another five victories. The team then narrowly missed out on promotion year after year. In April 2025, they finally achieved their major breakthrough in Shenzhen.
Next stop: Denmark
The team led by captain Meixner now heads to Esbjerg on Denmark's west coast. In Group A, they will face Czechia, the USA, Switzerland and Germany from 6th to 16th November. The top four teams qualify for the quarter-finals, while the fifth-placed team will play the fifth-placed team from Group B in a deciding match to remain at the top-division World Championship. The immediate objective is therefore clear: staying in the top division.
However, anyone who believes this team will be satisfied with that is mistaken: alongside staying in the top division, Olympic qualification is the women's team's next big dream. In 2021, they were just one goal away from securing a trip to the Olympic Games. One thing is clear: the future certainly looks bright.
You can find this and many more exciting articles in the current issue of POWERPLAY – the official magazine of the ÖEHV. Available in shops now.
