The National League (NL) is a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league had an average of 6,949 spectators per game which is the highest among European leagues (ahead of the

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

with 6,397 and the DEL with 6,215). The capital city's club SC Bern has been ranked first of all European clubs for 18 seasons and had an average attendance of 16,290 after the regular season. The ZSC Lions are another club in the top ten of European ice hockey attendance, ranking seventh with 9,694 spectators.

Season structure

During the regular season, each of the 14 teams play 52 games. The top eight teams after the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

qualify for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

to determine the Swiss champion in best-of-seven series. The bottom four teams in the standings play a

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

tournament, called playouts, in which each team retains their regular season points and play an additional six matches. Following those matches, the two bottom ranked teams will play each other in a best-of-seven series, with the loser then playing the winner of the Swiss League playoffs in a best-of-seven series for a spot in the successive NL season.

Current teams

Import players

The current gentlemen's agreement allows teams to dress a maximum of six non-Swiss players for each game. There is no official rule as it would be against Swiss laws to limit foreign workers in a given enterprise. This agreement is not directly related to Swiss citizenship as players with different nationalities but with Swiss player-licenses are considered Swiss players, thus they do not count as import players. Current examples of this scenario are Deniss Smirnovs and Eliot Berthon with Genève-Servette HC and Floran Douay and Ronalds Ķēniņš with Lausanne HC. They all play with Swiss player-licenses as they have spent a good majority of their childhoods playing hockey with junior teams in Switzerland yet they do not possess Swiss citizenships. Such players would not be able to play in the NL if it was not for their Swiss player-licenses as they would not be considered good enough to use an import player spot on any team. Those spots are usually reserved for players who have had good NHL careers or players with great stats and performances in the AHL, SHL,

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

. The subject of import players has been and still is a huge subject of debates among team owners and GMs. Some of them wish to allow more import players per game in order to reduce the salaries of star Swiss players and the others want to keep that limit lower to allow more Swiss players to play on special units and have top roles on their teams.

Media coverage

NL games are only available in Switzerland and MySports is the league's official broadcaster, airing all regular season and playoffs games. MySports pays CHF 35 million per year to broadcast NL games and selected SL games. Games are available with German, French and Italian commentaries. Starting with the 2022/23 season, one game will be broadcast live and for free every week on local TVs on Sunday night with a puck drop set to 8pm. The SRG SSR airs regular season games highlights after each round and two selected games per playoff night in all three languages. Additionally, talk-shows are broadcast live on all 3 channels after each game night, featuring former Swiss players like Gil Montandon, Marco Bührer or Mark Streit.

Past champions

*2022 - EV Zug 4-3 ZSC Lions *2021 - EV Zug 3-0 Genève-Servette HC *2020 – ''no winner'' *2019 – SC Bern 4-1 EV Zug *2018 – ZSC Lions 4-3

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

*2017 – SC Bern 4-2 EV Zug *2016 – SC Bern 4-1

*2015 – HC Davos 4-1 ZSC Lions *2014 – ZSC Lions 4-0

Kloten Flyers EHC Kloten is an ice hockey team based in the city of Kloten in Switzerland. The team plays in the National League (NL). It has one of the best youth systems in Swiss ice hockey as its youth teams have won 19 championships during the last 50 year ...

*2013 – SC Bern 4-2 Fribourg-Gottéron *2012 – ZSC Lions 4-3 SC Bern *2011 – HC Davos 4-2

*2010 – SC Bern 4-3 Genève-Servette HC *2009 – HC Davos 4-3

*2008 – ZSC Lions 4-2 Genève-Servette HC *2007 – HC Davos 4-3 SC Bern *2006 –

4-1 HC Davos *2005 – HC Davos 4-1 ZSC Lions *2004 – SC Bern 3-2

*2003 –

4-2 HC Davos *2002 – HC Davos 4-0 ZSC Lions *2001 – ZSC Lions *2000 – ZSC Lions *1999 –

*1998 – EV Zug *1997 – SC Bern *1996 – EHC Kloten *1995 – EHC Kloten *1994 – EHC Kloten *1993 – EHC Kloten *1992 – SC Bern *1991 – SC Bern *1990 –

*1989 – SC Bern *1988 –

*1987 –

*1986 –

*1985 – HC Davos *1984 – HC Davos *1983 – EHC Biel *1982 – EHC Arosa *1981 – EHC Biel *1980 – EHC Arosa *1979 – SC Bern *1978 – EHC Biel *1977 – SC Bern *1976 – SC Langnau *1975 – SC Bern *1974 – SC Bern *1973 –

HC La Chaux-de-Fonds HC La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss professional ice hockey team who currently play in the Swiss League (SL). Founded in 1919, La Chaux-de-Fonds play at the Patinoire des Mélèzes in front of a capacity 7,200. History Hockey Club La Chaux-de-Fonds ...

*1972 –

*1971 –

*1970 –

*1969 –

*1968 –

*1967 – EHC Kloten *1966 – Grasshopper-Club Zürich *1965 – SC Bern *1964 – HC Villars *1963 – HC Villars *1962 –

EHC Visp EHC Visp is a Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Visp and competing in the Swiss League (SL). The club was founded in 1939 and became Swiss champion in 1962. Visp has also won the league title in NLB three times; 1960, 2011 and 2014. Thei ...

*1961 – ZSC Lions *1960 – HC Davos *1959 – SC Bern *1958 – HC Davos *1957 – EHC Arosa *1956 – EHC Arosa *1955 – EHC Arosa *1954 – EHC Arosa *1953 – EHC Arosa *1952 – EHC Arosa *1951 – EHC Arosa *1950 – HC Davos *1949 – ZSC Lions *1948 – HC Davos *1947 – HC Davos *1946 – HC Davos *1945 – HC Davos *1944 – HC Davos *1943 – HC Davos *1942 – HC Davos *1941 – HC Davos *1940 – ''no winner'' *1939 – HC Davos *1938 – HC Davos Swiss National Championship Serie A (1909–1937) * 1909: HC Bellerive Vevey * 1910: HC La Villa Lausanne * 1911: Club des patineurs de Lausanne * 1912: HC Les Avants * 1913: HC Les Avants * 1914: ''not played'' * 1915: ''not played'' * 1916: HC Bern * 1917: HC Bern * 1918: HC Bern * 1919: HC Bellerive Vevey * 1920: HC Bellerive Vevey * 1921: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1922: EHC St. Moritz * 1923: EHC St. Moritz * 1924: HC Château-d'Œx * 1925: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1926: HC Davos * 1927: HC Davos * 1928: EHC St. Moritz * 1929: HC Davos * 1930: HC Davos * 1931: HC Davos * 1932: HC Davos * 1933: HC Davos * 1934: HC Davos * 1935: HC Davos * 1936:

Zürcher SC The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and pl ...

* 1937: HC Davos Swiss International Championship Serie A (1916–1933) * 1916: Akademischer EHC Zürich * 1917: HC Les Avants * 1918: HC Bellerive Vevey * 1919: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1920: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1921: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1922: HC Château-d'Œx * 1923: EHC St. Moritz * 1924: HC Château-d'Œx * 1925: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1926: ''no winner'' * 1927: HC Davos * 1928: HC Rosey-Gstaad * 1929: HC Davos * 1930: HC Davos * 1931: HC Davos * 1932: HC Davos * 1933: Grasshopper-Club Zürich

Season structure

Current teams

Import players

Media coverage

Past champions

Titles by club

See also

References

External links