National League (ice hockey) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
National League

Formerly	NDA 1938–1999 Nationalliga A 1999–2007 National League A 2007–2017 National League 2017–present
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1938; 87 years ago (1938)
CEO	Denis Vaucher
No. of teams	14
Country	Switzerland
Most recent champion(s)	Genève-Servette HC (2022–23)
Most titles	HC Davos (31 titles)
TV partner(s)	MySports SRG
Relegation to	Swiss League
International cup(s)	Champions Hockey League
Related competitions	Swiss League
Official website	National League

The National League (NL) is the top professional ice hockey league in Switzerland. It's the highest level of hockey in the Swiss league system. Before the 2017–18 season, it was known as National League A.

The NL is very popular! During the 2018–19 season, it had the most fans per game in Europe. About 6,949 people watched each game. That's more than the KHL and the DEL. The team from the capital city, SC Bern, is super popular. They have been ranked first in Europe for attendance for 18 seasons! They had an average of 16,290 fans per game. The ZSC Lions are also very popular, ranking seventh in Europe with 9,694 fans.

Teams from the NL also play in the IIHF's Champions Hockey League (CHL). This is a big competition where teams from different European leagues play for a trophy. The NL is ranked as the second-best league in Europe. This means its top five teams get to compete in the CHL.

How the Season Works

The National League season has a clear structure. Each of the 14 teams plays 52 games during the regular season. This is a lot of hockey!

Playoffs and Champions

After all the regular season games, the top eight teams move on to the playoffs. The playoffs are exciting! Teams play in "best-of-seven" series. This means a team needs to win four games to move on. The last team standing becomes the Swiss champion!

Staying in the League

The bottom four teams in the standings play in a special tournament called "playouts." This is to decide which teams might be relegated (moved down) to a lower league. In the playouts, teams keep their regular season points. They play six more matches.

The two teams with the lowest points after these matches then play each other in a "best-of-seven" series. The loser of this series then plays against the winner of the Swiss League playoffs. This final series decides which team gets to play in the National League next season.

National League Teams

There are 14 teams in the National League. Each team plays in a different city in Switzerland. Here are the teams, their home cities, and their arenas:

Team	Location		Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined league
	City	Canton
HC Ajoie	Porrentruy	Jura	Raiffeisen Arena	5,078	1973	2021
HC Ambrì-Piotta	Ambrì	Ticino	Gottardo Arena	6,775	1937	1985
SC Bern	Bern	Bern	PostFinance Arena	17,031	1931	1986
EHC Biel	Biel/Bienne	Bern	Tissot Arena	6,562	1939	2008
HC Davos	Davos	Grisons	Eisstadion Davos	6,800	1921	1993
Fribourg-Gottéron	Fribourg	Fribourg	BCF Arena	9,095	1938	1980
Genève-Servette HC	Geneva	Geneva	Patinoire des Vernets	7,135	1905	2001
EHC Kloten	Kloten	Zürich	Stimo Arena	7,600	1934	2022
Lausanne HC	Lausanne	Vaud	Vaudoise Aréna	9,600	1922	2013
HC Lugano	Lugano	Ticino	Cornèr Arena	7,800	1941	1981
SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Rapperswil-Jona	St. Gallen	St. Galler Kantonalbank Arena	6,100	1945	2018
SCL Tigers	Langnau im Emmental	Bern	Emmental Versicherung Arena	6,000	1946	2015
ZSC Lions	Zürich	Zürich	Swiss Life Arena	12,000	1930	1989
EV Zug	Zug	Zug	Bossard Arena	7,200	1967	1987

Players from Other Countries

Teams in the National League can have players from other countries. These are called "import players." Teams can usually have up to six non-Swiss players in each game. This is an agreement between the teams.

Some players might not have Swiss citizenship but are still considered "Swiss players" for the league. This is because they have a special "Swiss player-license." These players often grew up playing hockey in Switzerland. This means they don't count towards the limit of foreign players.

For example, players like Deniss Smirnovs and Eliot Berthon play for Genève-Servette HC. Floran Douay and Ronalds Ķēniņš play for Lausanne HC. Even though they aren't Swiss citizens, they have Swiss player-licenses. This lets them play in the NL without taking up an "import player" spot.

Import player spots are usually for very talented players. These are often players who have played in big leagues like the NHL (North America), AHL, SHL, KHL, or Liiga (Finland).

There are always discussions about how many import players should be allowed. Some team owners want more foreign players to help lower player salaries. Others want fewer foreign players so that more Swiss players can get important roles on their teams.

Watching the Games

If you want to watch National League games, you can! In Switzerland, MySports is the official TV channel for the league. They show all the regular season and playoff games. MySports pays a lot of money each year to broadcast these games. You can watch the games with commentary in German, French, or Italian.

Since the 2022-23 season, one game each week is shown live and for free on local TV channels. These games are usually on Sunday nights.

The SRG SSR also shows highlights of regular season games. They also broadcast two selected playoff games each night. You can watch these in all three languages. Plus, they have talk shows after games with famous former Swiss players like Gil Montandon, Marco Bührer, and Mark Streit.

Past Champions

The National League has a long history of champions! Many teams have won the championship over the years.

Most Wins by Club

Here's a list of which clubs have won the most championships in the National League (and its earlier forms):

See also

In Spanish: National League (Suiza) para niños

• Swiss League
• PostFinance Top Scorer