ICE Hockey League

This article is about the Austrian league. For other leagues, see List of ice hockey leagues.
"Erste Bank Eishockey Liga" redirects here. Not to be confused with Erste Liga (ice hockey).
ICE Hockey League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023–24 ICE Hockey League season
SportIce hockey
Founded1923; 101 years ago (1923)
CEOKarl Safron[1]
No. of teams13
CountryAustria (8 teams)
Italy (3 teams)
Hungary (1 team)
Slovenia (1 team)
Most recent
champion(s)		Red Bull Salzburg
(9th title)
Most titlesEC KAC (31)
TV partner(s)Puls 24
Official websitewww.ice.hockey/en

The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League, ICEHL), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons,[2] is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria. It currently features additional teams from Hungary, Italy, and Slovenia. The league was known as the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) from 2003 until 2020 and as the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League during the 2021–22 season.[3]

Until 2005–06, the league consisted solely of Austrian teams. Since then, the league has added teams from Slovenia (from 2006 to 2017 and from 2021 onwards), Hungary (starting 2007–08), Croatia (from 2009–10 through 2012–13, and again from 2017–18 through 2018–19), the Czech Republic (starting in 2011–12 through 2019–20 and again from 2021-22 onwards),[4] Italy (starting in 2013–14),[5] and Slovakia (starting in 2020–21 through the start of 2021–22).

The non-Austrian teams are competing for the "League Champion" title. Only Austrian teams in this league are additionally eligible for the "Austrian Champion" title.[citation needed] The league has had different sponsors, and the current naming rights have been held by win2day.at since 2022.

Teams from the ICEHL participate in the IIHF's annual Champions Hockey League (CHL), competing for the European Trophy. Participation is based on the strength of the various leagues in Europe (excluding the European/Asian Kontinental Hockey League). Going into the 2022–23 CHL season, the ICEHL was ranked the No. 6 league in Europe, allowing them to send their top three teams to compete in the CHL.

  1. ^ "sport.ORF.at". Sport.ORF.at. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  2. ^ "win2day ICE Hockey League". www.ice.hockey. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  3. ^ "A NEW ERA IS BEGINNING: BET-AT-HOME ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE". ICE Hockey League. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Znojmo to join Austrian EBEL". Eurohockey.com. 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2017-03-05.
  5. ^ "12 teams - 5 countries - HC Bozen affiliated". archive.is. 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2019.