NEW ERA IN WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY WITH THE WIN2DAY AUSTRIAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE AND THE EUROPEAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE “NEW”

In cooperation between the Austrian Ice Hockey Federation, the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day, the online gaming site of Austrian Lotteries, the win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League will begin play in the 2024/2025 season. The European Women’s Hockey League will also be further professionalized and a sustainable sporting basis will be created.

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

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

Under the Equal Play concept, win2day’s commitment is long-term and plays a key role in the roll-out and development of the league. The aim is to increase general interest in women’s ice hockey and attract more women to the sport, to provide more players for the respective national teams by improving training and to be able to offer more top games at the highest level.

The existing EWHL brand, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and is one of the top three leagues in Europe, will receive an additional boost through the merger of the two professional associations with the win2day ICE Hockey League and win2day, thus gaining further importance in European women’s ice hockey. The win2day AWHL and EWHL are based on the teams together with the above-mentioned stakeholders as an association.

As new highlights for Austrian women’s ice hockey, we can look forward to an Austrian Supercup final in September, which will be held for the first time, and the Austrian national championship title will be determined as part of an attractive win2day AWHL Final Four event.

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

Statements:

Zsuzsanna Kolbenheyer, EWHL/IIHF: „The EWHL has been hugely important to me since its inaugural season, when I was an active player myself. It’s time to take further steps. The support from the win2day ICE Hockey League, the two federations and win2day makes significant changes possible. With the additional funding, the teams can further develop their environment.“

Levente Sipos, General Secretary HIHF: „The teams from Hungary and Austria have already made significant progress through the cooperation so far. 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 raise Austrian and international women’s ice hockey to a new level. After closely monitoring developments in women’s ice hockey and identifying the necessary resources and players, now is the ideal time to take the next step. Our goal is to make the sport more visible and to intensively promote the development of female players. The win2day Austrian Women’s Hockey League is the result of numerous votes to realize these ambitions.“

Christian Feichtinger, Managing Director of the win2day IC E Hockey League: „As one of three equal partners, we take the win2day ICE Hockey League project very seriously. Each partner brings the best from their own area to make this future-oriented project as successful as possible. With the support of win2day and the partnership with the associations, we are convinced that we can make an important contribution to an ice hockey project of the future as the win2day ICE Hockey League.“

Bericht: PM EWHL
Foto: Nicolas Zangerle