The Swedish Ice Hockey Association (SIHA) or Svenska Ishockeyförbundet in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

, is an association of Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 sports clubs with ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 activities.

SIHA was part of the Swedish Football Association

Swedish Football Association

The Swedish Football Association is the governing body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues — Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women — and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in Solna and is a founding member of both FIFA and UEFA...

 but became an association of its own on November 17, 1922. In 1920 SIHA became a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation

International Ice Hockey Federation

The International Ice Hockey Federation is the worldwide governing body for ice hockey and in-line hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 70 members...

. Apart from hockey, also inline hockey

Inline hockey

Inline hockey, often referred to as roller hockey in the United States, is a sport similar to ice hockey but played with inline skates. Like its parent sport, skaters on two teams use hockey sticks to direct a disk-shaped puck into the opponent's goal; however, various details of the game, such as...

 is the province of SIHA.

The association's general secretary

General secretary

-International intergovernmental organizations:-International nongovernmental organizations:-Sports governing bodies:...

 currently is Christer Englund.

Leagues and levels

In Sweden ice hockey is played nationwide in the following levels:

• Elitserien
  Elitserien
  Elitserien, is a professional ice hockey league composed of twelve teams in Sweden...
  
  
• HockeyAllsvenskan
• League I
• League II
• League III
• League IV
• League V
• Veteran Ice Hockey
• Women Ice Hockey
• Junior under 20
  J20 SuperElit
  J20 SuperElit is a junior ice hockey league composed of 20 teams in Sweden. It is the highest-level junior ice hockey league in Sweden. The teams are divided in two groups, or divisions, Norra and Södra , and are usually associated with a professional team in either Elitserien or HockeyAllsvenskan...
  
  
• Junior under 18
• Junior under 17
• Junior under 16
• Junior under 15
• Junior under 14
• Junior under 13
• Junior under 12
• Junior under 11
• Junior under 10
• Girl league
• School league

National teams

Sweden has seven national ice hockey teams:

• Team Sweden
  Swedish national men's ice hockey team
  The Swedish men's national ice hockey team, or Tre Kronor , as it is called in Sweden, is one of the most successful ice hockey teams in the world...
  
  
• Women's National Team
  Swedish national women's ice hockey team
  The Swedish women's national ice hockey team or Damkronorna represents Sweden at the International Ice Hockey Federation's IIHF World Women's Championships. The women's national team is controlled by Svenska Ishockeyförbundet...
  
  
• Team U20
• Team U19
• Team U18
• Team U17
• Team U16
• National inline team

External links

• Svenska Ishockeyförbundet (Official site both in Swedish and English.)