Women's ice hockey in Sweden had 3,425 players in 2011. The Swedish Women's Hockey League, organized by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, is the elite league of women's ice hockey. There are also a number of teams in Division 1, which in turn is divided in regions north, west, east, south A and south B.
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History
The first league was created in 1987, and is called Division 1. This league had a variable number of teams distributed into some small regional leagues, followed by a national playoff. During the 2007–08 season, the best Division 1 teams qualified for the new league Riksserien (Swedish Women's Hockey League from the 2016-2017 season) which became the top tier league, while the Division 1 became the second level of women's hockey in Sweden.
The Swedish Women's Hockey League is composed of eight teams. They face every opponent in four games, twice at home and twice away. The first two teams qualify for the semi-finals. The teams classified in third to sixth place have a playoff qualifying round which takes place in three matches. The semi-finals, the match for the third place and final depend on a simple match. The seventh and eighth teams face the top two from Division 1 to stay in the Swedish Women's Hockey League or to Division 1.
Medal count
Riksserien
Division I Region South A
Division I Region South B
Division I Region West
Division I Region East
Division I Region North
Tournaments
The following are IIHF tournaments that were hosted in Sweden.