HockeyAllsvenskan The Allsvenskan ( HockeyAllsvenskan since 2005 - 06 ) is the second highest hockey league of Sweden . There are 16 teams participating , each playing thrice against each other in the regular season calendar . The top three teams at the end of the season advance directly to the Kvalserien ; teams ranked fourth through seventh meet in two playoffs rounds ; the winner of which grabbing the last place available for the Kvalserien . The last two teams of the league play in a similar tournament against the four best Swedish Division 1 teams to determine who will promote and get relegated . Previous leagues called Allsvenskan During seasons 1948 – 49 through 1974 – 75 Allsvenskan was the semi - official name of the first - level league , the official name being Division 1 norra ( north ) and södra ( south ) , comprising six teams each until 1955 – 56 and eight teams each from 1956 – 57 to 1973 – 74 . In 1974 – 75 it was played as one Division 1 league with sixteen teams , leading up to the start in 1975 – 76 season of the present Elitserien . The second highest - level league had been called Division 2 since 1941 – 42 , and was divided into eight groups from 1957 – 58 on . The winners of these groups played in two qualification leagues , a northern and a southern one , from which two teams each were promoted . In the 1974 – 75 season the grouping was changed to have six groups . Each qualification league contained the winners of three groups and one each of the teams on places nine and ten in the sixteen team Allsvenska . When Elitserien started in 1975 – 76 as the top level with ten teams , the new second highest - level league was called Division 1 , in four groups . After a couple of years , it was settled into ten teams each in these . Until the 1981 – 82 season the Division 1 leagues were played over the entire season and followed by play - offs and Kvalserien , the qualification league for the Elitserien . In 1982 – 83 , however , the name Allsvenskan came back , for a league starting after the Christmas and New Year ' s break of the season . The top two teams of each Division 1 league were promoted to the new Allsvenskan . The top two teams in the Allsvenska played a best of five final for promotion to Elitserien . The teams 3 – 6 in the Allsvenska continued with play - offs and possibly Kvalserien for the second open spot in the Elitserien . For the 1987 – 88 season the Elitserien was expanded from ten to twelve teams , and now also the two last teams in Elitserien by the end of the year were moved down for play in the Allsvenskan together with the top eight Division 1 teams . Still with a best of five final between the top two teams , and play - offs for teams 3 – 8 . From the 1996 – 97 season , the Elitserien changed and played with all twelve teams for the entire season . The Allsvenskan changed back to the eight top teams from Division 1 only . The best of five final was also abandoned . From here on , the top two teams were promoted directly to Kvalserien , while the teams finishing 3 - 6 played play - offs for two more spots in Kvalserien . In the 1999 – 2000 season , Allsvenskan Norra ( north ) and Södra ( south ) was inaugurated as a completely new second - level league , consisting of twelve teams each . The top four teams from each of them were promoted for the later half of the season to the same kind of league as recent years Allsvenska , but the name of that league was changed to SuperAllsvenskan . For the 2005 – 06 season the number of teams was decreased from 2x12 to 16 , and the present HockeyAllsvenskan was born . Present HockeyAllsvenskan . The league is played as a round - robin tournament where all teams play each other four times during one season . After the regular season , four teams from the league play along with the two last placed teams from Elitserien in a series called Kvalserien , where the two winning teams are promoted to Elitserien for the next season , while the bottom four teams are relegated to HockeyAllsvenskan . The finishing top three teams of the league advance to this Kvalserien directly , the teams ranked 4 through 7 battle for the fourth spot . Up until season 2009 - 10 they have met in two play off rounds , but from the 2010 - 11 season they will play a pre - qualification round robin league in six rounds , facing at home and away . The two last placed teams from HockeyAllsvenskan have to play against four Division 1 ( tier III ) teams to avoid relegation . For the 2009 – 10 season , the number of teams in the league were decreased from sixteen to fourteen . In the 2008 – 09 season the last placed team was directly relegated , and the teams ranked fourteen and fifteen played the qualification league , from which only one team was qualified for the next season . Previous seasons . 2005 – 06 season . Halmstad Hammers played in HockeyAllsvenskan this season , but due to the club ' s bankruptcy the team was disqualified . During Kvalserien IF Malmö Redhawks and Skellefteå AIK were promoted to play in Elitserien for season 2006 – 07 . Leksands IF and Södertälje SK were both relegated from Elitserien . IFK Arboga IK and Hammarby IF had to play the relegation rounds and kept their spots in the league , coming in second and third after Huddinge IK , who had been relegated one year previously , but made it back after one year in Division 1 . 2006 – 07 season . This season Huddinge and Arboga had to play in the qualification series to stay in the league , but Arboga decided not to play because of their bad economic state of affairs , so they joined Division 1 in the 2007 – 08 season . Huddinge won the group and continued to play in HockeyAllsvenskan for yet another season , while Borås finished second and advanced to HockeyAllsvenskan . In the qualification rounds for Elitserien , Södertälje advanced to Elitserien while Malmö only finished third and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan the next season . 2007 – 08 season . Huddinge and Hammarby finished last in league this year and had to play in the qualification series to stay up . Hammarby however decided not to play because of economic issues . Also , Huddinge did not survive the qualification group which was won by the following season ' s newcomers IF Troja / Ljungby and Mariestad BoIS HC . However , in the summer Nyköpings Hockey was relegated to division 1 , not meeting the financial demands for being approved to play in the HockeyAllsvenskan , and Huddinge was promoted to fill in that spot . In a closely played qualification battle for Elitserien , Rögle advanced to Elitserien at the cost of Mora who finished fourth and went to play in HockeyAllsvenskan next season . 2008 – 09 season . The 2008 – 09 season became the last season with sixteen teams in HockeyAllsvenskan . On May 30 , 2008 the board of SIHA decided to decrease the number of teams to fourteen , starting from the 2009 – 10 season . Therefore , the last placed team , Mariestad BoIS HC , was directly relegated to the lower division , instead of joining the teams placed 14th and 15th who had to play the qualification group against four teams from lower Division 1 . With just one team qualifying for HockeyAllsvenskan instead of the usual two , neither Huddinge IK ( fourth ) or Nybro Vikings IF ( third ) succeeded staying in the second division . Instead , Örebro HK took the available place in HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2009 – 10 season . " GP = Games played , W = Wins , T = Ties , L = Losses , GF = Goals for , GA = Goals against , Pts = Total points . " Meanwhile , in Kvalserien , none of the four top teams from HockeyAllsvenskan succeeded qualifying for the highest division this year . Instead , the two Elitserien teams Södertälje SK and Rögle BK managed to keep their spots . Leksands IF , AIK , Västerås and Växjö Lakers returned for another season . 2009 – 10 season . Sundsvall and Oskarshamn ended up at the bottom of the league table and had to play a qualification series to requalify for HockeyAllsvenskan . There Tingsryd came in second after Oskarshamn earning promotion at the expense of Sundsvall . However , in June SIHA decided not to grant Björklöven an elite license for the upcoming season and they were relegated to Division 1 and Sundsvall was offered a place in HockeyAllsvenskan . In Kvalserien , AIK managed to promote to Elitserien at the expense of Rögle .