Naisten Liiga (ice hockey)
Finnish women's ice hockey league / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Naisten Liiga (lit. 'Women's League'), also called the Naisten SM-liiga (NSML) and Jääkiekon naisten SM-liiga (lit. 'Ice Hockey Women's Finnish Championship League'), is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Finland. Founded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association as the Naisten SM-sarja (lit. 'Women's Finnish Championship series') in 1982, it was so known until being rebranded as the Naisten Liiga in 2017.[2][3] The league comprises approximately 250 players across ten teams.
Most recent season or competition: 2023–24 Naisten Liiga season | |
Formerly | Naisten SM-sarja 1982–2017 |
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Sport | Ice hockey |
Founded | 1982 (1982) |
First season |
|
Director | Henni Laaksonen[1] |
Organising body | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
No. of teams | 9 |
Country | Finland |
Most recent champion(s) | HIFK Helsinki (2023–24) |
Most titles | Kiekko-Espoo (16) |
Streaming partner(s) | Leijonat.tv |
Relegation to | Naisten Mestis |
International cup(s) | European Women's Champions Cup |
Official website | Official website |
Kiekko-Espoo (previously known as Espoo Blues, Espoo United, and EKS) has been the dominating force of the Naisten Liiga in the 21st century, winning sixteen Finnish Championships from 1999 to 2022.[4] Tampereen Ilves is the second most successful club in league history, with ten championship titles, and are the only organization to have iced a team in every season since the league's inception.
A majority of teams in Naisten Liiga share their names with men's professional teams in the Liiga or Mestis – HIFK, HPK, Ilves, KalPa, Kiekko-Espoo, Kärpät, Lukko, RoKi, TPS – but the women's teams have historically received few resources and limited promotion from the affiliated men's clubs.[5] In recent years progress has been made in building better relationships between the men's and women's teams; most men's clubs now provide some support to their women's counterparts by advertising games together or helping secure sponsorships.[6][7]