German women's ice hockey Bundesliga

German Women's Ice Hockey League
Deutsche Fraueneishockey-Liga (German)

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 DEFL season
Formerly	Fraueneishockey-Endrunde
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1988 (1988)
Founder	German Ice Hockey Federation
First season	1988–89
No. of teams	7
Countries	Germany  Netherlands
Most recent champion(s)	ECDC Memmingen (2022–23)
Most titles	ESC Planegg-Würmtal (8)
TV partner(s)	DEB-Online
Level on pyramid	1st
Relegation to	2. Liga Nord or Landesliga
Domestic cup(s)	DEB-Pokal der Frauen
International cup(s)	EWHL Super Cup
Related competitions	EWHL
Official website	Official website

The German Women's Ice Hockey League (German: Deutsche Fraueneishockey-Liga) or DFEL, also known as the German Women's Ice Hockey Bundesliga (German: Deutsche Fraueneishockey-Bundesliga, lit. 'German Women's Ice Hockey Confederated League'), is the top-tier women's ice hockey league in Germany. An amateur league, it was founded in 1988 by the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB, Deutscher Eishockey Bund).

History

The German Women's Ice Hockey Bundesliga was created in 1988–89. Previously, the national championship took the form of a tournament featuring the best teams from the various regional federations. The Bundesliga was initially split into two divisions, North and South, with a final championship tournament at the end of the season, but in April 2006, the participating teams voted to have only a single division, starting from the 2006–07 season.

2022–23 season

Six teams participated in the 2022–23 DFEL season, following the withdrawal of Düsseldorfer EG after the 2019–20 season and the withdrawal of EC Köln ("Die Haie") after the 2021–22 season.^[1][2] The regular season began on 1 October 2022 and concluded on 19 February 2023. ECDC Memmingen were the regular season champions; the team featured both the league’s top scorer, American forward Theresa Knutson, and best goaltender, Emma Schweiger.^[3]

The top four teams from the regular season qualified for the playoffs, which were played on a best-of-five tournament schedule.^[4] In the semifinals, ECDC Memmingen swept ESC Planegg-Würmtal to take the series in three games and the Mad Dogs Mannheim bested ERC Ingolstadt in four games.^[5]

ECDC Memmingen did not slow down in the German Championship finals, sweeping Mad Dogs Mannheim in three games to claim the team’s fourth championship title.^[6]

Teams

EC Bergkamen

Juniors Berlin

ERC Ingolstadt

EKU Mannheim

ECDC Memmingen

ESC Planegg

class=notpageimage|

Location in Germany of teams participating in the 2023–24 DFEL season.

Amsterdam Tigers

class=notpageimage|

Location in the Netherlands of teams participating in the 2023–24 DFEL season.

2023–24 season

With the addition of the Amsterdam Tigers, seven teams participated in the 2023–24 DFEL season; the Amsterdam Tigers were the 2022–23 winners of the Netherlands' championship. The regular season began on 23 September 2023 and concluded on 25 February 2024. Each team played 24 games, facing every opponent twice at home and twice away.^[7][8]

Team	Location	Founded	Home venue	Head coach
Amsterdam Tigers	Amsterdam		Jaap Edenhal (1500)	Max Farrill
EC Bergkamener Bären	Bergkamen	1982	Eissporthalle Bergkamen (500)	Miriam Thimm
Eisbären Juniors Berlin	Berlin	2017	Wellblechpalast (4,695)	Philipp Richter
ERC Ingolstadt	Ingolstadt	2012	Saturn Arena (4,815)	Christian Sohlmann
Mad Dogs Mannheim	Mannheim	2002	SAP Arena (13,600)	Randall Karsten
ECDC Memmingen	Memmingen	1989	Eissporthalle Memmingen (3,850)	Waldemar Dietrich
ESC Planegg-Würmtal	Planegg	1991	Eisstadion Miesbach (1,400)	Viliam Smida

Championship record

Medal table

Team				Total
ESC Planegg-Würmtal	8	7	1	16
OSC Berlin	5	5	4	14
Mannheimer ERC WildCats	5	4	2	11
ESG Esslingen	5	1	3	9
EHC Eisbären Düsseldorf	4	3	0	7
TV Kornwestheim	4	1	1	6
ECDC Memmingen	4	4	2	10
TuS Geretsried	1	3	4	8
EC Bergkamener Bären	1	2	5	8
ERC Ingolstadt	1	1	4	6
Neusser EC	1	1	1	3
TuS Wiehl	0	2	1	3
SC Riessersee	0	1	3	4
EV Füssen	0	1	1	2
DEC Tigers Königsbrunn	0	1	0	1
Eisbären Juniors Berlin	0	1	0	1
Mad Dogs Mannheim	0	1	0	1
ESV Kaufbeuren	0	0	1	1
Kölner EC	0	0	1	1
Grefrather EC	0	0	1	1

German Women's Cup

Beginning in the 2001–02 season, the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) organized an annual tournament called the DEB Women's Cup (German: DEB-Pokal der Frauen), which would be played over several days at the end of the DFEL season. It featured the top four or six teams from the most recent DFEL season, divided into two groups of two or three teams each. The tournament has not been held since 2018.

See also

• Germany women's national ice hockey team
• European Women's Hockey League (EWHL)

References

External links

• League statistics and data sourced from EliteProspects.com, or EuroHockey.com, or HockeyArchives.info (in French)
• Frauen-Bundesliga (in German)

• v
• t
• e

German Women's Ice Hockey Bundesliga

2023–24 season

• Amsterdam Tigers
• EC Bergkamener Bären
• Eisbären Juniors Berlin
• ERC Ingolstadt
• Mad Dogs Mannheim
• ECDC Memmingen
• ESC Planegg-Würmtal

Former teams

• Düsseldorfer EG
• Kölner EC