European Women's Hockey League

The European Women's Hockey League, abbreviated EWHL, is an international ice hockey league. Created as the Elite Women's Hockey League in 2004 by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the EWHL comprises clubs from several countries in Central Europe and one team from Kazakhstan, and is played in parallel to national championships.

History
The EWHL was created in 2004 on the same principle as the men's ice hockey Interliga. For its first season, the EWHL featured teams from Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia. Teams from additional countries joined the league during the following seasons, including HC Slovan Bratislava from Slovakia in 2005, KHL Grič Zagreb from Croatia in 2006, and HC Slavia Praha from the Czech Republic in 2007. In the 2008–09 season, the Italian and Hungarian teams gave way to two clubs from Germany, OSC Berlin and ESC Planegg. During the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, the Netherlands national team participated in the EWHL.

Before the 2019–20 season, the Elite Women's Hockey League was renamed, becoming the European Women's Hockey League to reflect its unique position within European women's ice hockey. Also, the Polish women's national team joined the league in 2019, playing as the Silesia Brackens and later under the name Silesian Metropolis Katowice. The Hungarian team KMH Budapest rejoined the league, and MAC Budapest was added.

The EWHL is mostly played in a championship format with home and away matches, with the exception of the 2005–06 season where the teams were distributed in two regional divisions followed by qualifying rounds. For the 2010–11 season, the regular season was followed by a play-off between the four teams at the top of the league table.

Though they joined the league in the 2015–16 season, Kazakh team Aisulu Almaty has played only two EWHL games from their home arena, Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, due to the significant travel distance. The 2019–20 season provided the first opportunity for Aisulu to play EWHL matches in front of a home crowd, when they hosted the EHV Sabres for a two game series during 19–20 October 2019.

Since the 2019–20 season, the Hungarian Ice Hockey Federation has overseen the league. The league president is Martin Kogler.

2023–24 season
Source: ÖEHV

Former teams
Austria
 * DEC Dragons Klagenfurt
 * EHV Sabres Vienna
 * Southern Stars
 * SPG Sabres/Flyers United
 * WE-V Flyers

Belarus
 * HK Pantera Minsk

Croatia
 * KHL Grič Zagreb

Czech Republic
 * HC Slavia Praha

Denmark
 * Hvidovre IK

Germany
 * ESC Planegg-Würmtal
 * OSC Eisladies Berlin

Hungary
 * Budapest Stars
 * MAC Marilyn Budapest

Italy
 * HC Agordo
 * HC Eagles Bolzano

Netherlands
 * Netherlands women's national team

Slovakia
 * HC Slovan Bratislava
 * HK Spišská Nová Ves
 * MHK Martin
 * ŽHK Poprad (Popradské Líšky)

Slovenia
 * HDK Maribor
 * HK Gorenjska
 * HK Olimpija Ljubljana
 * HK Terme Maribor
 * HK Triglav Kranj

Championship
Source: