New era in women’s ice hockey with the win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League and the “new” Euro­pean Women’s Hockey League

win2day – main sponsor of the Women’s World Championship Division IA, sponsor of the ÖEHV and title sponsor of the win2day ICE Hockey League – is taking women’s ice hockey across Europe to a new level from the 2024/25 season, together with the federations from Austria (ÖEHV) and Hungary (HIHF) as well as the ICE Hockey League organisation. The focus is on the professionalisation of the existing European Women’s Hockey League and the newly established Austrian Women’s Hockey League.

Intensive work has been underway since autumn 2023 on the creation of the new league and the further development of the international EWHL. To this end, four key stakeholders in European ice hockey – the ÖEHV, the HIHF (Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation), the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day – have been brought together. win2day will serve as title sponsor of the AWHL, thereby expanding its commitment to women’s ice hockey.

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

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 of the two federations with the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day, further increasing its importance in European women’s ice hockey. The teams, together with the aforementioned stakeholders as clubs, form the backbone of the win2day AWHL and the EWHL.

New highlights for Austrian women’s ice hockey include the inaugural Austrian Super Cup final in September, while the Austrian national championship title will be decided as part of an attractive win2day AWHL Final Four event. 

Next Steps
Further information on participating teams and the format will follow in good time before the start of the season.

Statements

Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer, EWHL/IIHF: "The EWHL has been of enormous importance to me since its inaugural season, when I was an active player myself. It is time to take further steps. The support of the win2day ICE Hockey League, the two federations and win2day makes significant changes possible. With the additional financial resources, the teams can further develop their environment."

Levente Sipos, General Secretary HIHF: "The teams from Hungary and Austria have already made considerable progress through their cooperation to date. Now is the perfect time to take the next step in their development."

Yasmin Stepina, ÖEHV Vice-President: "I am proud to bring this project to fruition. The cooperation of our partners guarantees that we will take Austrian and international women’s ice hockey to a new level. Following a thorough observation of developments in women’s ice hockey and the identification of the necessary resources and stakeholders, now is the ideal time for the next step. Our goal is to make the sport more visible and intensively promote the development of players. The win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League is the result of numerous consultations aimed at realising these ambitions."

Christian Feichtinger, Managing Director of the win2day ICE Hockey League: "As one of three equal partners, we take the win2day ICE Hockey League project extremely seriously. Each partner contributes the best from its own area in order to make this forward-looking project as successful as possible. Through the support of win2day and the partnership with the federations, we are convinced that, as the win2day ICE Hockey League, we can make an important contribution to an ice hockey project for the future."