German women's ice hockey: International development aid

Four German teams, one from Hungary and one from Slovakia: This is what the German Women's Ice Hockey League (DFEL) will be like when it starts the 2026/27 season on September 12th. While it is already the third season for the Hokiklub Budapest in the German league, a newcomer came with the Veolia Hockey Team Petržalka from Bratislava. This means the league will be bigger, probably more competitive – and more international.

Why teams from Hungary and Slovakia? The answer is quickly found: there are simply no German ones. Teams like Planegg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bergkamen and Hanover had withdrawn from the DFEL in recent years and are now either playing at a lower level or - like record champions ESC Planegg - have stopped operations completely. "There are some German teams that we want to bring up to the level of the DFEL. But it makes no sense to do this forcibly if there are not enough players or they are too young," says Ronja Jenike, women's competitive sports officer at the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB).

The association is therefore taking a different approach and wants to start lower down in the future in order to establish more German teams in the top league in the long term. In addition to the lack of financial resources, a major challenge is the high dropout rate from the U15 onwards. “We want to expand our reach in the U18 area and install a girls’ league,” announces Jenike. This project will start with a pilot project in Bavaria and will then be rolled out throughout Germany.

Until the U18's efforts bear fruit, the DFEL is capitalizing on the interest of European teams. After Budapest, Bratislava, and there have also been inquiries from Austria and Norway. "We deliberately brought Bratislava into the league because they fit well into our league structure. They are really professional and have a great infrastructure," says Jenike. For example, the players benefit from a coupled support and school system, a professionally equipped venue, a full-time coach and full-time support.

The Slovakian team has been newly founded, but most of the players recently played as HK PSRZ Bratislava in the European Women's Hockey League (EWHL). Under the new name Veolia Petržalka Bratislava, the team moved to the DFEL in order to prove themselves at a higher sporting level. The intention behind the development project is to bundle the Slovakian national players into one team in order to be more competitive internationally.

The Eisbären Juniors Women Berlin were also able to get an idea of ​​the new DFEL member. Last weekend, head coach Philip Richter's team was in the Slovakian capital for two test matches, both of which narrowly lost to Berlin. “Ice hockey has a different status there, is closer to the people and more popular, even if the new team does not yet have its own fan scene,” summarized Richter. In terms of sport, he considers the team to be at a similar level to Hokiklub Budapest and therefore a good step for the further development of the German league.

"These are games that absolutely help us. Hard-fought, but that's exactly what we need in international comparison, where we often have physical deficits," says Berlin's head coach. To do this, he was happy to take the bus for 20 hours. About the same time as the reigning German champions in Memmingen.

Nevertheless, Richter would like to see more German clubs and regularly looks towards Düsseldorf and Hanover, but also to Kempten and Bad Tölz in Bavaria. But the clubs are not yet ready for the first league. To ensure that this works in the future, the DEB has decided on a funding plan. From the 2026/27 season, 100,000 euros will be invested in the league per season. The funds flow to existing DFEL clubs as well as ambitious clubs that are about to be promoted. By 2034, the league is expected to grow to a stable size of eight to ten teams.

Starting next weekend, the current six teams will play in a different game format: after a double round, there will be four more regional encounters. In total, each team will play 24 games in the main round until the playoffs start on March 6, 2027. There will soon be an important interruption: From October 28th to November 16th, league operations will be suspended due to the World Cup in Denmark, which is taking place for the first time at this time of year and not in the spring - well before the league's season highlights and even before the start of the North American women's ice hockey league PWHL.

Ronja Jenike, who has also watched the Women's Basketball World Cup in Berlin in the past few days, would also like to see a home World Cup at some point. Before German women's ice hockey is ready to trigger the kind of hype that is currently happening in Berlin, not only international successes are needed, but also a professionally positioned DFEL. With Bratislava and Budapest, at least the sporting level is currently heading in the right direction.