The Czech Women's Ice Hockey Extraliga (Czech: Česká extraliga ženského ledního hokeje) or Women's Extraliga (Extraliga žen) is the premier league for women's ice hockey in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1985, it was known as the 1. liga ženského hokeje from 1989 until 2017, at which time the league came under the oversight of the Czech Ice Hockey Association and the current name was adopted. The victorious team of the Women's Extraliga is named Champion of the Czech Republic (Czech: Mistr České republiky, MČR).
History
The Czech Women's Extraliga traces its origins to the Turnaj v Klatovech (lit.'Tournament in Klatovy'), in which teams from across Czechoslovakia gathered in Klatovy to play a traditional tournament. First contested in 1985, the inaugural champion of the Turnaj v Klatovech was TJ Kovo Praha from Prague. TJ Sparta ČKD Praha, the representative women's team of HC Sparta Praha, won the tournament in 1986.
In 1986–87, a season format was adopted with games played on weekends. The top-ranked team from the regular season was named league champion. In 1987 and 1988, the league champions were awarded the Pohár ÚV SSM (Czech: Pohár Ústředního výboru Socialistického svazu mládeže, lit. 'Cup of the Central Committee of the Socialist Youth Union'). TJ Lokomotiva Beroun [cs] from Beroun won the Pohár ÚV SSM in both the 1986–87 and 1987–88 seasons.
During the 1988–89 season, teams competed for the Pohár ČSSS (Pohár Československé státní statky, 'Cup of the Czechoslovak State Estates'). TJ Škoda Plzeň won the Pohár ČSSS in 1989.
Ahead of the 1989–90 season, the league was named the 1. liga ženského hokeje (lit.'First Women's Hockey League'), shortened to 1. liga žen or 1. liga. TJ Lokomotiva Beroun were the first champions of the 1. liga in 1990.
A second division was established in 1992 and a system of promotion and relegation was implemented whereby the top ranked team from the second division was promoted and the bottom ranked team from the top division was relegated at the end of each season.
Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the 1. liga became the highest level of women's ice hockey in the Czech Republic.
The two-division system was reconfigured in 1996, moving from skill-based divisions to geographic conferences. The two conferences, called Čechy (lit.'Bohemia') and Morava (lit.'Moravia'), used the traditional boundaries between the Czech lands of the same names to organize teams. Each conference played a closed series and the top teams from each would then move on to the finals.
During the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, the number of teams in the Čechy conference led it to be further subdivided into skupina A (sk. A; 'Group A') and skupina B (sk. B; 'Group B'). Skupina A was for the most skilled teams and engaged in a system of promotion and relegation with skupina B. The Morava conference did not experience the boom in teams seen in the west and no subdivisions were implemented.[3][4]
A new division system was implemented in 2012 that introduced a national elite level, called the 1. liga - TOP divize. The TOP divize represented a new division above the previous conferences and divisions, which were renamed and continued as the lower levels of the 1. liga. The previous skupina A and skupina B of the Čechy conference were designated skupina A1 and skupina A2, respectively, and the Morava conference was designated skupina B. Together the new 1. liga - sk. A1 and 1. liga - sk. B comprised the skill tier below the 1. liga - TOP divize, while 1. liga - sk. A2 represented the lowest tier of skill. Promotion and relegation between the TOP divize and skupina A1/B was possible via a best of three series played by the lowest ranked TOP divize team and the winner of the qualification series between the top teams from skupina A1 and skupina B. Likewise, promotion and relegation between skupina A1 and skupina A2 was also possible.[5]
The 1. liga was organized and operated by the Association of Women's Hockey League Clubs (Asociace Ligových Klubů Ženského Hokej, ALKŽH) during the 2010s until the league came under the oversight of the Czech Ice Hockey Association in 2017. At that time, the 1. liga was divided into three separate leagues: the elite Women's Extraliga, the second-tier 1. liga žen, and the third-tier 2. liga žen.
League name history
Top women's ice hockey competition/league in Czechoslovakia
1985–1986: Turnaj v Klatovech
1986–1988: Pohár ÚV SSM
1988–1989: Pohár ČSSS
1989–1993: 1. liga
Top women's ice hockey league in the Czech Republic
Location of Women's Extraliga teams in the Czech Republic.
HC Berounské Lvice qualified for the 2024–25 Extraliga žen season and the club continues to hold league rights but the team opted to instead participate in the 2024–25 season of the second-tier league, the 1. liga žen.[8][9]
All-time regular season records of the Women's Extraliga since the league came under the oversight of the Czech Ice Hockey Association in 2017. Statistics are valid through the 2022–23 season.
