Release from 20.05.2025

All four league nations in the Top Division for the first time next year

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The four nations participating in the win2day ICE Hockey League will be represented at the Top Division at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Switzerland in 2026. After Italy had already secured promotion at the Division I Group A World Championships at the beginning of May, Slovenia and Hungary have now also secured their place at the current world championship in Sweden and Denmark. Austria even sensationally made it through to the quarter-finals with an outstanding 6:1 victory over Latvia in their final group game.

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At the beginning of May, Italy secured promotion at the Division IA World Championships in Sfântu Gheorghe (ROM) with a strong performance. As many as 13 players from the win2day ICE Hockey League were in the Italian squad - the “Azzurri” are thus returning to the highest division of the IIHF World Championships after three years.

At the current IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship 2025 in Stockholm (SWE) and Herning (DEN), a total of 35 players from the win2day ICE Hockey League are in the line-up of the national teams of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary. Both Slovenia and Hungary were able to record one win each, finishing seventh in their group and thus securing their place in the top division.

Things went even better for Austria, who sensationally qualified for the quarter-finals with an outstanding performance. In the decisive game on Tuesday, the ÖEHV team beat Latvia 6:1. This puts Team Austria back among the top eight teams in the world for the first time since 1994.

In addition to Latvia, Austria also defeated Slovakia (3:2/SO), France (5:2) and Slovenia (3:2/SO). Only against the tournament favorites Finland (1:2), Canada (1:5) and Sweden (2:4) the red-white-red team lost. Their quarter-final opponent will be determined after Tuesday evening's games.

In the last group match against Latvia, the Austrian team put in a dominant performance. The team led 3:0 after just 26 minutes before Latvia were able to score for the first time. Undeterred, captain Thomas Raffl of champions EC Red Bull Salzburg increased the lead to 4:1 in the 45th minute. Dominic Zwerger and Vinzenz Rohrer each scored twice, Benjamin Baumgartner added another goal.

Dr. Alexander Gruber, President of the win2day ICE Hockey League: "First of all, the great performance of the Austrian national team must be emphasised. Congratulations from the bottom of my heart! They have made history and we are keeping our fingers crossed for the quarter-finals. Overall, it is very pleasing that next year, for the first time, all four league nations will be in action at the World Championship of the top division. These developments are a clear indicator of the sporting quality and emphasise the role of the win2day ICE Hockey League as a central platform for the development of national team players. Once again, we congratulate all persons involved on these successes."