Euro­pean Women’s Hockey League and win2day Austrian Women´s Hockey League take off!

On the occasion of the launch of the win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League and the upcoming start of the season, ÖEHV Vice-President Yasmin Stepina joined Wolfgang Jethan from win2day and Christian Feichtinger, League Manager of the win2day ICE Hockey League in the AWHL Talk to discuss the planned development and objectives of the newly founded women’s ice hockey league.

Under the Equal Play concept, win2day’s commitment is designed for the long term and plays a key role in the league’s roll-out and development. The aim is to increase general interest in women’s ice hockey and bring more women into the sport, make more players available to the respective national teams through improved training, and offer more top-level games.

Additional boost for European women’s ice hockey

The established EWHL brand, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and is among Europe’s top 3 leagues, will receive an additional boost through the collaboration between the two federations, the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day, further increasing its importance in European women’s ice hockey. The teams, together with the stakeholders mentioned above, form the foundation of the win2day AWHL and the EWHL as a league.

win2day AWHL as a partner league of the ICE Hockey League

The newly created win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League will be established as a partner league of the win2day ICE Hockey League. This cooperation completes the missing piece of the Austrian ice hockey puzzle. The integration of the women’s league rounds off the ice hockey landscape in Austria. This partnership strengthens the presence of women’s ice hockey and creates a unified platform for promoting the sport.

Format of the win2day AWHL 2024/2025 season

Five Austrian teams will take part: DEC Salzburg Eagles, KSV Highlanders, Lakers Kärnten, Sabres St. Pölten and reigning national champions EC Graz Huskies. The AWHL will be played in two phases. In Phase 1, the five AWHL teams will play each other in a home-and-away round, with the games also counting towards the EWHL.

Phase 2 will be followed by a placement round and a qualification round. The top three teams from Phase 1 will again play a home-and-away round to determine places 1-3 for the Final Four.

The remaining two teams from Phase 1 and the best team from the DEBL will compete in a separate round for a place in the Final Four. In the AWHL Final Four, the top three teams from the placement round and the winner of the qualification round will meet and compete in the semi-finals and final for the title of “AWHL Champion 2024-25”.

Yasmin Stepina, Vice-President of ÖEHV: “The establishment of the win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League was the next milestone in the professionalisation of women’s ice hockey in Austria, and we can now offer our clubs a platform to become more visible in the media, support them where they need support and gradually guide them towards the level of professionalism required.”

The full schedule for the win2day Austrian Women´s Hockey League and the European Women´s Hockey League in the Gamecenter

All information on the win2day Austrian Women´s Hockey League and the European Women´s Hockey League on the official website