Anniversary: A quarter-century of women’s ice hockey in Austria

The date is 31 March 2001. In Villach, an Austrian women’s national ice hockey team takes to the ice for the first time. The opponent: Hungary! The first game in the team’s history ended in a 1:4 defeat, but the second, against Slovenia on 11 November 2001, was won 7:0. Austria’s women’s national ice hockey team has played 295 international matches over the past 25 years. The record: 136 wins, 156 defeats and 3 draws.

03 April 20261 min read

31 March 2001 marked the beginning of a true success story, which will culminate in the national team’s first-ever Top Division World Championship appearance this autumn. At Austria’s World Championship debut in Division III in 2004, five convincing victories over Hungary, Belgium, Slovenia, South Korea and Romania secured promotion to Division II.

They remained there for three years before earning promotion back to Division I in Finland in 2008 with another five victories. Austria then hosted the tournament themselves in 2009, making a dream start in Graz with two wins over the Czech Republic and France. However, defeats to Slovakia, Norway and Germany prevented a straight ascent.

Since 2012, Division I has been known as Division I, Group A. Over the past 15 years, the national team has repeatedly come agonisingly close to promotion to the Top Division. In addition to 2009, Austria also hosted the World Championship in 2017 and 2024.

The major breakthrough finally came in China in 2025. Gold at the World Championship Division IA and promotion to the Top Division. For the first time in history, Austria’s women are among the world’s top 10 nations.

The national team was and is currently led by Anna Meixner. Our PWHL export was also one of the cornerstones of the silver medal at the 2012 Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck. Current national team player Tamara Grascher was also on the ice alongside her.

Speaking of the Olympics: after promotion to the Top Division, qualifying for the Olympics is the next big dream for our women’s team. In 2021, they were just one goal short of earning a trip to the Olympic Games.

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