Germany Germany is a federal republic of sixteen states ( " länder " ) located in central Europe . The country has a population of about 82 , 000 , 000 . Germany exists as a unified nation since October 3rd 1990 . Beforehand , Germany was , as a result of World War II , divided in two distinct country : East Germany and West Germany . Organisation . Ice hockey in Germany is promotion and relegation - based , except for the Deutsche Eishockey Liga , the top level of the country , that is closed to promotion from teams of the 2 . Bundesliga since 2009 , after allowing in EHC Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams . This table illustrates the organization of ice hockey in Germany : Women ' s History of hockey in Germany . The beginnings of the ice hockey in Germany lie around 1900 in Berlin . An ice hockey - like game was probably played as early as on February 4 , 1897 on the Halensee Lake in Berlin . However , this game likely had more in common with the related sport bandy . The participants were Akademischer SC 1893 Berlin and a team of students . 1901 saw the first German club that created its own ice hockey department ( the [ [ Berliner Schlittschuhclub ] ) . As a consequence , further ice hockey associations or departments developed first in Berlin and then in other large German cities . In 1908 ice hockey was taken up as section of the Deutscher Eissport - Verband . On September 19 , 1909 , Germany became the sixth member nation of the predecessor organization of the IIHF , the " Ligue International de Hockey sur Glace " ( LIHG ) . By 1910 , when Germany participated in the first European Ice Hockey Championship a city league with ten teams was already playing in Berlin . Beside the Berliner Schlittschuhclub of the BFC Preussen , the teams were the Sportclub Berlin , the Berliner Eislaufverein 1904 , the BFC Britania , the Berliner EV 1886 , the Hockey Club Berlin , the Sportklub Komet , the SC Charlottenburg and the Eislauf Verein Berlin . In 1912 , the first German championships were held , which the Berliner Schlittschuhclub would win . After the First World War , Germany was excluded from the LIHG in 1920 and could thus not in any LIHG tournaments . On January 11 , 1926 , the Deutsche Eissport - Verband , the body responsible for ice hockey in Germany , was re - admitted to the LIHG , and Germany was once again able to participate in the European Ice - Hockey championships beginning in 1927 . Until 1940 , the development of the ice hockey in Germany made great strides . By the 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , Germany attained the bronze medal , and during the European championships ( then a qualifier for the Ice Hockey World Cup ) won the European title in 1930 and 1934 . The 1936 Winter Olympics saw a contentious issue arise when the Nazi party were forced to include a Jewish player ( Rudi Ball ) on the team . Ice hockey developed further in this time period with the emergence of new regional organizations across the country . After the World War II , Germany was again excluded from the LIHG in April 1946 . At this time a national league for the best teams , the Oberliga ( Ice Hockey ) , developed in the Federal Republic , while the Soviet occupation zone , the later German Democratic Republic , took its own development . ( " See Also : " Ice Hockey in the DDR ) The Federal Republic of Germany was admitted to the LIGH on March 10 , 1951 , and the GDR joined as an independent member with the Deutschen Eislauf - Verband der DDR on June 9 , 1954 . The Oberliga was replaced 1958 by the reintroduced Ice Hockey Bundesliga , before 1963 the Deutsche Eishockey - Bund was created , which remained under the umbrella of the Deutschen Eissport - Verbandes . Internationally the national team of the FRG created the jump into the A - World Championship , where they could be established end of the 1970s and into the 1980s . However , it never ranked among the top four teams in the world . In 1901 SC Berlin , became the first German hockey team . International . The German men ' s national ice hockey team first participated in serious international competition at the 1911 European Hockey Championship . When Germany was split after World War II , a separate East German national ice hockey team existed until 1990 . By 1991 , the East German teams and players were merged into the Deutscher Eishockey - Bund association . The team is not considered to be as elite as Canada , the Czech Republic , Finland , Russia , Slovakia , Sweden or the United States , but they are ranked 9th in the world by the IIHF . Since re - unification , their best recent results include finishing 6th place at the 2003 World Championships where they lost a close quarter - final match in overtime to Canada , and 4th at the 2010 World Championships where they lost to sweden in the bronze medal game . Previously , they finished third in the European Group and qualified for the quarter - finals at the 1996 World Cup after a surprising 7 - 1 victory against the Czech Republic . In the 1992 Olympics , they lost to Canada 4 - 3 in an overtime shoot - out in the quarter - finals . Germany has never won an international competition , and their most recent medal was bronze in the 1976 Olympic Winter Games . This was their best result as well as a silver medal at the 1930 World Championships . There are 25 , 934 registered players in Germany ( 0 . 03 % of its population ) . In December 2005 Uwe Krupp became head coach . Team Germany finished in 4th place at the 2010 IIHF World Championship , their best placement since 1953 . German U20 , U18 , Womens , and Womens U18 teams also participate in the world championships . Some great German players . " Retired legends : " " Current stars : " " Women players : " [ [ Category : Hockey Countries ] ] See also . [ [ Category : Ice hockey in Germany ] ] [ [ Category : Countries ] ] [ [ Category : Locations ] ]