IJshockey Nederland (IJNL) is the official

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

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 hock ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It was founded as the Nederlandse IJshockey Bond (NIJB; 'Netherlands Ice Hockey Association') in 1933 as a three team league with

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

. It joined the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...

on 20 January 1935. In 1946, it created the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. The organisation’s name was changed from NIJB to IJNL in 2017. It is now the governing body for four divisions: The

North Sea Cup The ''North Sea Cup'' was a short-lived hockey league that temporarily succeeded the Dutch Eredivisie from 2010-2012. It was the only professional ice hockey league in the Netherlands and the highest level of competition sanctioned by the Nederla ...

(formerly known as the

( 'Premier league'); professional); the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

('First Division;' amateur); and the 2nd and 3rd divisions (recreational). It also governs the Dutch national men's ice hockey team, the Dutch national women's ice hockey team, the Dutch national men's junior ice hockey team and the Dutch national men's under 18 ice hockey team. The professional tournaments that it organizes are currently the '' Bekercompetitie'', a pre-season cup tournament held in the autumn among the top professional Dutch teams, and the ''North Sea Cup'', a regular season that includes the 6 Eredivisie teams and three teams from Belgium. North Sea Cup standings determine ranking for the playoffs for Dutch national championships. It also organizes the playoffs which determine the Dutch National Champions of ice hockey.

References

External links

Netherlands
at IIHF.com Ice hockey in the Netherlands

International Ice Hockey Federation members

Ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

Sports organizations established in 1933 {{icehockey-org-stub

See also

References

External links