New league, better chances: win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League

A real milestone for the Equal Play Initiative was decided at the World Championship Division IA in Klagenfurt. From the 2024/25 season, domestic women's ice hockey will have its own game: the win2day Austrian Women's Hockey League (AWHL).

The initiative, which was largely driven by Equal Play Initiative founder win2day, will not only take domestic women's ice hockey to a new level. The game will become part of the existing European Women's Hockey League (EWHL), which will also experience a professionalization boost as a result of the changes.

Own Hockey League state championship title

The four Austrian teams in the top European league, SKN Sabres St. Pölten, EC Graz Huskies, KEHV Lakers and DEC Salzburg Eagles, will host the Austrian Supercup final for the first time in September 2024 and will compete for the national championship title as part of the win2day AWHL Final Four event from 2025.

Equal Play thrust

Equal Play is still a vision for the future in ice hockey, but the new AWHL is a milestone in this direction. With the efforts of the Equal Play Initiative, win2day and the Austrian Ice Hockey Association, Austrian women's ice hockey will immediately receive more media attention and achieve a higher degree of professionalization in the medium term. The sport should become more interesting for sponsors and the training conditions for Austrian female athletes should steadily improve.