Central European Hockey League

The Central European Hockey League is the top professional ice hockey league in Belgium and the Netherlands. It started in 2015 as the BeNe League/Beneliga, after the Belgian Hockey League and the Dutch Eredivisie joined together. This made it the best place to watch ice hockey in both countries.

The league has 11 teams—6 from the Netherlands and 5 from Belgium. All these teams play together in one group. Players on these teams come from Belgium, the Netherlands, other parts of Europe, and even from outside Europe.

In 2023, two teams from Germany joined the league, making it even bigger and more exciting. This league is a fun place to see talented ice hockey players from many different countries compete.

Overview

The Central European Hockey League is a top ice hockey league with teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. It started in 2015 with 16 teams, but now has 13 teams. These teams play many games during the season, and the top teams fight for the championship title at the end.

Some teams from the Netherlands, like the Tilburg Trappers, chose not to join this league and played in a different German league instead. However, they still have a smaller team in the Central European Hockey League.

History

After the 2009 season, some teams from Belgium and the Netherlands decided to join different leagues. This led to changes in how the leagues worked. By 2015, the Belgian Hockey League and the Eredivisie from the Netherlands decided to merge into one league called the BeNe League. This new league included teams from both countries.

Over time, more teams joined or left the league. In 2024, the league was renamed the Central European Hockey League when two German clubs joined in 2023. This brought the total number of teams to 16 for the 2016–17 season.

Season format

In the main part of the season, all 13 teams play each other twice. This means each team plays 24 games.

The top eight teams from this part move on to the playoffs. The quarterfinals and semi-finals are best of three series, and the final is a best of five series. The team that wins the final becomes the BeNe League Champion.

Teams

(2019./20.):

Former teams

• ¹ Utrecht stopped playing in June 2015.

Players

The Central European Hockey League mainly uses players from Belgium and the Netherlands. Most players on the national teams of these countries play in this league.

Teams can also have players from other countries, called imports. Each team can have up to two imports. An import is a player who cannot play for the Belgian or Dutch national teams.

Champions

The Central European Hockey League, also known as the BeNe League, started in 2015. It was formed by joining the top hockey leagues from Belgium and the Netherlands. This league now includes 11 teams—6 from the Netherlands and 5 from Belgium—who all compete together in one group.