Austria to compete at full strength in Olympic qual­i­fi­ca­tion

Anna Meixner and Theresa Schafzahl from the PWHL, Selma Luggin from German league leaders ECDC Memmingen, Annika Fazokas and Leonie Kutzer from Swiss top club EV Zug, as well as numerous players competing in North American college leagues and, of course, all the leading players from Austria's top clubs. A total of 25 players. Emma Hofbauer will miss Olympic qualification through injury, as will Karolina Hengelmüller and Anna Billa.

Apart from those three absences, Austria will travel to Bremerhaven at full strength next week, where they will battle Germany, Hungary and Slovakia for a ticket to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA). Only the group winners can plan for February 2026.

Anna Meixner and Theresa Schafzahl will still be absent for the start of training, as they have league fixtures at the weekend. They will complete the red-white-red squad in Bremerhaven.

Head Coach Alexander Bröms is accordingly pleased with the selected players: “We have three really good goaltenders, a strong defensive core and a good mix in attack. I think we have put together a really strong squad for Olympic qualification.”

Germany are an established top-division nation in women's hockey. Hungary earned promotion to the Top Division in Klagenfurt in April 2024, while Slovakia moved up from Division IB to Division IA, where Austria also compete, in 2024. The Olympic qualification tournament from 2021 is still remembered fondly. Back then, Austria opened with a 3:0 victory over hosts Germany. However, the bitter 0:1 defeat to Denmark proved to be the turning point.

“The Olympic Games are the dream of every athlete. We only just fell short in 2021, but we will give everything for our dream,” emphasises Captain Anna Meixner the team's ambitions.

At the time, Alexander Bröms was not yet behind the bench. He has been in charge of the Austrian national team for around two and a half years: “We know each other really well by now, have introduced new behaviours and implemented a playbook. Now it is time to bring that onto the ice and perform.”

The training sessions will build on the December team camp, where work was done both on tactics and individual skills.

At the beginning of next week, the national team will move on to Bremerhaven (GER), where it will complete two full training sessions before Thursday's opening game against Germany.

2025 WOMEN'S FINAL OLYMPIC ICE HOCKEY QUALIFICATION, GROUP I

06–09 February 2025
Hosts: Germany
Participants: Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary

Schedule

THURSDAY, 06 FEBRUARY 2025

Hungary vs Slovakia
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 16:00

Germany vs Austria
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 19:30

SATURDAY, 08 FEBRUARY 2025

Slovakia vs Germany
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 14:30

Hungary vs Austria
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 18:00

SUNDAY, 09 FEBRUARY 2025

Austria vs Slovakia
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 14:30

Germany vs Hungary
Eisarena Bremerhaven, 18:00

All information on the official IIHF website

Olympic Qualification roster