Release from 18.09.2024

New era in women's ice hockey with the win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League

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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.

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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 the fall of 2023, intensive work has been carried out 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.

In line with the Equal Play concept, win2day's commitment is long-term and will play 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.

Additional push for European women's ice hockey

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 the EWHL are based on the teams together with the above-mentioned stakeholders as an association.

win2day AWHL as 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 puzzle in Austrian ice hockey. The integration of the women's league rounds off the ice hockey picture in Austria. This partnership strengthens the presence of women's ice hockey and creates a uniform platform for the promotion of the sport.

Mode of the AWHL 2024/2025 season

The AWHL is played in two phases. In phase 1, the five AWHL teams compete against each other in a first and second round, with the games also counting towards the EWHL. Phase 2 is followed by a placement round and a qualifying round. The top three teams from Phase 1 play another round robin to determine places 1-3 for the Final Four. The remaining two teams from Phase 1 and the best team from the DEBL play in a separate round to determine participation in the Final Four.

In the AWHL Final Four, the three best teams from the placement round and the winner of the qualifying round will meet and play for the title of "AWHL Champion 2024-25" in the semi-finals and final.