History of ice hockey in Germany Ice hockey is one of the more popular sports in Germany , however it still ranks far behind football in spectator favour and meaning . Ice hockey is organized today in Germany by the Deutsche Eishockey Liga , the highest professional league , and by the Deutschen Eishockey - Bund ice hockey federation , which is the sport ' s federation in Germany and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation . The Men ' s German national ice hockey team stands ninth in the world on the current IIHF rank list . Since they were eighth before the Ice Hockey World Cup 2005 , they automatically qualified for the Olympic Ice Hockey tournament . History . 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 [ [ International Ice Hockey Federation | 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 champions ( ice hockey ) | 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 [ [ West Germany | 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 [ [ Bundesliga ( ice hockey ) | Ice Hockey Bundesliga ] ] , before 1963 the [ [ Deutscher Eishockey - Bund | 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 . National team . Coaches , Players and rankings of the German national team . See [ [ Deutsche Eishockeynationalmannschaft | German National Ice Hockey Team ] ] [ [ Category : Ice hockey in Germany ] ]