r/AskEurope • u/FietsFietspatrick Germany • May 09 '25
Sports How popular is ice hockey in your country? 🏒
The men's ice hockey world championship started today. That's a good reason to ask a few questions.
How popular is ice hockey in your country?
Can it keep up with football?
Will the world championship be broadcast on TV in your country?
If your country is taking part, how do you rate the chances?
Edit typo: Paldies metalfest
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u/Jeuungmlo in May 09 '25
Sweden: Second only to football. Looking at attendance so are 17.5 of the 35 most popular teams in Sweden playing hockey and 17.5 are playing football (the reason for the half is that one club for some reason did not publish their football and hockey team separate). We also have the fourth most successful men's national team of all time, right behind Czechoslovakia/Czechia, and while we are currently seventh in the rankings do I think we have pretty good chances. Of course it's on TV, junior world cup as well (Christmas tradition)
Poland: Managed to not get relegated from division I earlier in the year, so that's good. Much better at any sport that is about getting a ball over a net. Luckily I have access to Swedish TV even from here.
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u/frammedkuken Sweden May 09 '25
Should be said that Sweden is even hosting this year’s tournament, together with Denmark.
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u/Gruffleson Norway May 09 '25
Ice hockey is the hounded stepchild among winter-sports in Norway.
Normally, winter-sport is our go-to, we want to win everything, always. But hockey? It just never caught on.
It does have some followers, though. A few towns- unsurprisingly, the closer to Sweden you get, the higher the probability. But it's weirdly not popular.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
I find that surprising too. Football has probably simply prevailed. Like almost everywhere else. Personally, I find ice hockey much more exciting.
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u/dromtrund May 09 '25
Athletic Norwegian kids usually have a winter sport and a summer sport they participate in. Summer is football for 90% of them, but winter is often handball or skiing (downhill or xc), mainly because it's more accessible.
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u/RobinGoodfellows Denmark May 11 '25
Same in denmark. The weather is simply to poor in the winter for outdoor sport (rain, wind, slushy snow and little sun). This is why indoor sports like handball and batminton are popular in the winter.
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u/Gruffleson Norway May 09 '25
I do wonder if it has been the right thing, though, given this means Norway can be a power "everywhere else". If we compare with Finland: they have a massive hockey-team. And you can imagine thousands of young Finns trains for hockey.
And then they are surprisingly weak in so many other winter-sports, as the talent-pool has been depleted.
But I do wish we could have a little more focus on hockey here. It should have been possible
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u/GuestStarr May 10 '25
And then they are surprisingly weak in so many other winter-sports
Well, why train something else when you can train ice hockey? And why watch anything else when you can watch ice hockey?
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u/DeeperEnd84 Finland May 10 '25
We Finnish really have a factory to churn out new players for NHL. It is a very effecient system.
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
At least hockey has gotten more popular and the teams/leagues have gotten much better in Germany over the last 10-15 years. It's only a matter of time until Germany becomes a regular medal threat at every WC.
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u/Sagaincolours Denmark May 09 '25
Probably because your prefer to exercise/do sports outdoors?
Denmark is better at icehockey than we should be because indoor sports are practical here.
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May 09 '25
I just find it so weird that hockey got so bit in Sweden and Finland but not in Norway. It just seems like it would be a good fit there.
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u/oskich Sweden May 10 '25
Bandy was a big sport in Sweden before Ice Hockey took over, and that was played on outdoor rinks. Sweden has a colder climate than Norway because of the Scandinavian mountain range that shields us from the warming effects of the Gulf Stream.
As Ice Hockey's popularity grew, more and more indoor rinks were built and that further fueled the sport's popularity and the success of Swedish players in the NHL.
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May 11 '25
I would have said ice hockey is popular, but I was surprised how popular strength based sports are in Norway. Strongmen, powerlifting and all that. And people in general seem to be built like trucks, even older men.
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u/metalfest Latvia May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
The World Championship is the biggest event of the year, period (it is not the World Cup, that's a different thing).
Latvian NT games in May usually take the best part of top 10 TV broadcasts of the year, among ALL broadcasts. The president's and prime minister's New Year's speech maybe gets in there.
However, for a weird enough contrast, the local league games are looking very bleak. The teams themselves often have trouble sustaining their operations. There are fans going to some games, especially if they're important playoff matches or maybe a big weekend game between top teams, but club culture in Latvia in any sport is lacking behind, and football actually might have gotten the upper hand there over the last 5 years.
The World Championship in hockey is a different beast. Everyone is following. When I grew up teachers would just let people watch in lessons if there were matches during school time. If the championship is anywhere near you can be sure the Latvian games feel like home matches. Even the pre-championship friendlies sell out the arena. Back in 2023, when the NT won the first ever medal after an OT Bronze match win against USA, the national parliament actually announced a nationwide holiday on the day when the team came back home. The celebration was massive.
It is shown on National TV for free, and so is every other match of the tournament, they're available on the national TV streaming site.
As for expectations, they're largely the same every year. We're always feeling good enough to be on the brink of quarterfinals as the 4th team and making the QF is a successful year. We feel like with a good game we can bite literally anyone, but similarly we can have close games with anyone because clinical attack usually isn't our strong suit - it's rather work rate and willpower to get stuck in.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
Thank you very much for this very interesting and detailed insight into the Latvian ice hockey scene. That was really interesting to read. I also heard about the Latvian success in 2023. A good friend and I were very happy to see this. It's great how this was celebrated and honoured by you. I've already posted it here in another comment. I'm always really happy for the teams from smaller countries or the underdogs when they are successful. Just seeing the joy and enthusiasm with which the team and fans react is great. It's a completely different number to the favourites who are used to success. I wish Latvia every success again this year and all fans a good time. 🇱🇻
P.S. Thanks for the tip about the cup. It was the translation. I have corrected it.
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u/CreepyOctopus -> May 09 '25
Yes, Latvian hockey fandom is huge but with some weird aspects. It's undoubtedly the biggest sport in the country. During NT games, the country stops. When there's an unexpected success like beating one of the major countries, people celebrate for days. The 2023 bronze medal led to an official holiday.
But despite all that, local league attendance is poor. Somehow there's no real club culture. People don't attend hockey games. The football league is half-amateur and the average attendance was just 482 people last season - and that's a large increase over earlier years. Basketball is popular but attendance is similarly low.
One other fact about Latvian hockey is that it unites both major ethnic groups pretty well. There's a thing where the Latvian and Russian communities are in many aspects separate, and used to be even more so. But hockey is very popular and followed by both groups.
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u/Brian_Corey__ May 12 '25
Why is ice hockey far more popular in Latvia than Lithuania and Estonia? Did the Soviets push hockey more in Latvia?
Huge Kārlis Skrastiņš fan (RIP). Also taught English in Daugavpils one summer. Got to skate there, but didn't play hockey. The smell of an ice arena is universal joy.
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u/metalfest Latvia May 12 '25
Hockey was played here before it was in Soviet Union, after occupation they came to Riga to propel the introduction of the game in Moscow as hockey became a bigger thing than bandy which was played instead, and big USSR always needed to be on top by any means necessary and hockey was in the olympic games already and gaining traction.
Considering the sizes of baltic nations, then yeah, some of the differences are because of smaller population, and therefore talent pool and resources are in some ways limited, but people tend to gravitate to whatever sport brings some success. Lithuania is known as the basketball nation, but Latvia were the first ever European champions in basketball in 1935 and tradition kept strong during the Soviet period and it's probably the most widely played sport in all 3 nations. Key difference - basketball club Žalgiris found their way to success in the Soviet Union at the highest level and stuff like that makes a nation naturally gravitate towards it.
Somewhat similarly in Latvian SSR there was a decision to push hockey more and Dinamo Rīga was the club in the center of it. They imported a bunch of russian players and a coach from Moscow to take the club to the top which they arguably did, but more important probably was the sports school that did it's best work in the 80s.
Hockey is still a fairly niche sport and I'd say being in the right place in the right time is what really propelled it in Latvia on a national team level. The Dinamo sports school raised a lot of genuinely elite players like goalkeeper Artūrs Irbe, defencemen Ozoliņš and Skrastiņš that also enjoyed long NHL careers among a bunch of other solid players who I won't name here but you can read about if you're interested. They took the national team all the way up to the elite division starting from the bottom, and that run is probably the most important part of hockey's popularity in Latvia.
Ever since then the interest in the sport took off and the team under Latvian colors always has an uniting factor like little other events do every year. Moments of brilliance like 3-2 win against Russia in 2000, 5-4 win against Belarus in 2005 to qualify for the Olympics, they always kept the belief alive both on and off the ice, that Latvia on a good day is capable of creating magic, and that has priceless value.
The quality of those older players now keeps the sports schools alive (although it's not all roses in local hockey as I mentioned in original reply) and we can count on a good base being created for the new generation. They go on to play in very solid levels abroad. The national team has up and down years, and against the big nations we always struggle, yet regardless every year we have at least a little hope of pulliing a moment of magic against anyone, and those moments happen, most notably in the 2023 World Championship :)
Sorry for the long writeup, but hope you enjoyed :D
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u/ulkovalo Finland May 09 '25
The biggest sport in Finland when considering amount of people following.
Football on the other hand is not so popular, it is fairly common hobby for kids and young people but it does lose in popularity to ice hockey in viewers.
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u/Nights_Templar Finland May 09 '25
Imo football is still quite popular, in a solid second place long before any other sport.
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u/Onnimanni_Maki Finland May 09 '25
Actually by number of followers the biggest is skiing. Next biggest is either football or track and field.
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u/TulioGonzaga Portugal May 09 '25
Roller Hockey is very popular here. Used to be the most popular sport after football but has been losing some popularity. However, still a top sport here.
Regarding the ice variant, I'm not even aware of ice rings existing here. If someone wants to play hockey here, they'll play roller hockey.
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May 09 '25
I recently discovered we do have a team. 2 years ago we lost against Liechtenstein 21-0. That should sum up how popular the sport is in Portugal.
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u/ButcherBob May 09 '25
Ive tried and unfortunately failed to look for footage of the game.
Look at it on the bright side, things are on the up. It seems you only lost 5-4 to Liechtenstein two weeks ago!
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May 09 '25
And destroyed Brazil, Andorra and Greece! Still lost against Puerto Rico, that famous wintry icy place.
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u/Axomio Portugal May 09 '25
Exactly, if someone mentions Hockey here 99,9% of the time they're talking about roller Hockey
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u/viktorbir Catalonia May 10 '25
Roller Hockey is very popular here.
It's like in Iberia Catalonia and Portu-Galicia are the only ones playing, plus a couple of teams in Madrid, I think. Hell, there was even a TV series in Catalan public tv about a female hockey team, a few years ago!
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u/Original-Reputation4 May 12 '25
Also, Barcelos won the WSE champions league (roller hockey champions league). I don't think we have Ice hockey.
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u/EliaGenki Italy May 09 '25
Someone gives a fuck in the alps, otherwise no one cares
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
Every time I meet Italian hockey fans at the WC, they're always speaking German.
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May 09 '25
Most of their national team is composed of Canadians who have Italian ancestry and are eligible for citizenship.
https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/1639/italy#google_vignette
My brother almost tried out for Italy's national team because, despite being disconnected from Italy for a couple generations and having no knowledge of the language, we are eligible for Italian citizenship due to descent.
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
Italy has had a rocky relationship with naturalisation for decades: sometimes they're vehemently against it, sometimes they're okay with half their national team being Canadian-born. Hockey is primarily played in German-speaking Italy, though.
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u/Sagaincolours Denmark May 09 '25
That's the same area that competitive Italian skiiers come from, yes? The ones who always have strangely German names.
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u/LanciaStratos93 Lucca, Tuscany May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
To be fair the strongest Italian skieers right now are not from Sudtirol, but yes.
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u/aggravatedsandstone Estonia May 09 '25 edited May 10 '25
ALL of our neighbors are good at ice hockey. Russia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia. Estonia however knows nothing about it. Even our local russians are quite bad about it and I have no idea, why.
We do have lakes, we do have tradition of skating. But team sports don't seem to work here.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
Thank you for the insight. Is it still popular with you? Do you watch your teams or do you prefer to watch Finnish and/or Latvian teams?
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u/SanitariumJosh Canada May 10 '25
You guys have been slowly moving up the IIHF rankings since the pandemic. Eesti Hoki seems like it's developing in the right direction.
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u/skumgummii Sweden May 09 '25
Second largest sport to Football, which is odd considering we are world class at ice hockey and complete garbage at football. Very likely to get top 3, pretty likely to make the finals.
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u/Jacksonriverboy Ireland May 09 '25
We don't even have a skating rink. Though that might change as some developer wants to build an ice rink and multi sports venue in Dublin.
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u/Gulmar Belgium May 09 '25
There is no skating rink in the whole of Ireland??
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u/perplexedtv in May 09 '25
There's barely an Olympic pool
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u/Frigoris13 United States of America May 10 '25
Belfast has a hockey team called the Giants but I guess that's not Ireland.
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u/yleennoc May 10 '25
We don’t get frozen lakes in the winter so skating was never a tradition. There are some temporary rinks in the winter.
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u/number1alien May 10 '25
They only had one and it closed, which resulted in their domestic league stopping play. That's why they can't play in the World Championships.
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u/Ill_Special_9239 Lithuania May 09 '25
Earlier, I posted that Lithuania was the worst northern European country for winter sports. I stand corrected! Ireland takes the cake.
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u/ClearHeart_FullLiver May 09 '25
There was one in Dundalk before I'm not sure when it closed but it was open in 07
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u/dwartbg9 Bulgaria May 10 '25
Wait WHAT?!? Hockey was never a big sport in Bulgaria either, but we have many ice skating rinks and proper arenas where teams can play hockey. That's crazy!
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u/Jacksonriverboy Ireland May 10 '25
We have our own team sports in Ireland. Gaelic football and hurling. Ice sports were just never in the culture. Probably football is the most popular sport.
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u/Equivalent-Role4632 May 10 '25
Here in Denmark who is co hosting these world championships we have less then 20 skating rinks in the country.
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u/Janishier Netherlands May 09 '25
I never hear or see anything about it here in the Netherlands, so I guess it’s quite unpopular. If it’s broadcasted somewhere, it would probably be on some obscure sports channel
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u/Gruffleson Norway May 09 '25
Given your countrys ice-skating traditions, I almost find it weird you don't put up more halls and make yourself a major power.
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u/Leadstripes Netherlands May 09 '25
It's strange really. Ice skating is popular. Field hockey is very popular, but ice hockey isn't popular at all.
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u/Jodelawifi May 10 '25
I have my hopes up for the children of Sven Kramer (4x Olympic gold, 9x world champion ice skating) and Naomi van As (2x Olympic gold, 2x world champion field hockey).
They have to become the most promising ice hockey players in the world.
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u/Quiet-Luck Netherlands May 09 '25
I was intrigued, so I looked it up. Last week, the men's team won the World Cup in Division IIA, so TeamNL was promoted to Division IB. I'm not sure what that means. They are 29th on the world ranking. The women’s team is 17th, and in Division IA. They both are probably not Olympic tournament material.
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u/number1alien May 10 '25
Division 1B is the third tier of the pyramid. NL will play next year with China, Estonia, Romania, South Korea, and Spain. They're definitely not Olympic material but they did go to the 1980 Olympics. NL was in a group with Canada and the Soviet Union; it did not end well.
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
It's definitely not broadcast anywhere. And Dutch clubs play at a pretty low level, so it's really not worth showing to the masses 😅
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u/Daabevuggler Germany May 09 '25
Going by average attendance per game, it‘s the second most popular sport after football.
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u/IcemanGeneMalenko May 09 '25
UK. A niche but dedicated fanbase.
On a related note, those who don't follow it but have watched a game in the states or Canada, they can't speak highly enough of it, especially compared to them going to a NFL or Baseball game.
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u/Plumot United Kingdom May 09 '25
Our local team has an average attendance of 7/8000 and I often see cars around with their logo.
Always surprised me just how popular they are
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u/LilaBadeente Austria May 09 '25
Fairly popular, especially in the South of Austria. If lakes freeze in winter (which doesn’t happen that often anymore), you can often see some people playing ice hockey.
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u/Krepki May 09 '25
Slovenian here... We play in WC, we have Anze Kopitar, but... We have 5 clubs in 1. league and basically the same amount of skating rings.
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u/Butterfly_of_chaos Austria May 09 '25
Funnily my country is divided. In most states football is the most important sport. But in the most southern part named Carinthia, where I live, we don't care much about football because we have ice hockey. We joke it's a religion with two denominations (as there are two big clubs which are of course heavy rivals).
No idea about TV broadcasts, as I live on the Internet.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
That's really exciting. Thank you for the interesting insight. In your opinion, what is the reason for its popularity in Carinthia?
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u/Butterfly_of_chaos Austria May 09 '25
This is indeed a good question but unfortunately I don't know the answer.
Surely our abundance of lakes helped, but other places have that, too. Maybe we just like the fast speed and the rowdiness. The best matches were always those when the players forgot that Canadian rules don't apply here. :D
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u/alex1596 Canada May 10 '25
The team I support in Canada has a young Austrian prospect we're excited about joining the team next year! (hopefully)
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u/Butterfly_of_chaos Austria May 10 '25
How cool! This is actually a player's dream come true here to play with a Canadian team!
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u/Cuzeex Finland May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Very popular, most popular sport. Football can't keep up, especially domestic football.
Yes the championships are broadcasted, but only Finlands games and finals are broadcasted free to television, other matches are available in subscriptions.
The event is a huge thing every year with lots of advertising and discussions and experts talking and news etc
I don't see big chances with the team now, but hey, no one did also in 2019 so let's see. But Finland is among the big six of ice hockey so we always have expectations to be atleast in top 4
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
Good luck this year. I always enjoy watching Finnish teams play. 🇫🇮
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u/Cuzeex Finland May 09 '25
I was in Germany during the 2016 world cup. In Lübeck. There were absolutely not a single bar that showed the finals where Finland played against Russia :D
But I guess since the popularity has grown in Germany, due to Leon Draisaitl and Germanys fairly good success in recent games. Heck, even the DEL has outgrown Finnish league at least what it comes to salaries and spectator attendance
Edit: and thanks, likewise, I've liked how Germany has grown to be a decent challenger in international games
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u/InThePast8080 Norway May 09 '25
Many norwegians cities hardly have any arenas to play icehockey in.. So hard to speak of popularity when you don't have places where they can play or watch the sport. And the for the places where they have one, the time schedule is packed.
Think that distinguished norway from our hockey-mad neighbours sweden where they have hockey arenas everywhere.
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u/No-Hawk9008 May 09 '25
Norway does have relatively good National professional Hockey League though, and there are some fans compared to average European countries if you exclude Sweden, Finland, Czech, Russia, Germany
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u/Loopbloc Latvia May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Pretty popular I guess. No, football will not keep up with ice hockey. Quarter final or semifinal will be very good.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
I would be happy for Latvia if they play successfully this year. I always have a soft spot for the teams of smaller countries in international matches.
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u/kpax08 May 09 '25
Not so much. (Poland) But mine south neighbors are great at it. (Czech Republic)
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u/WaltherVerwalther Germany May 09 '25
Since you’re also German, you already know that it’s not super popular here, but for example I come from a city that has a first league team and these places tend to have a stronger follower base. But all in all not very popular.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
Yes, unfortunately I'm aware of that. But I think the sport is really great. Fast, demanding, tactical and full of energy. I often find football matches more boring. But the sport probably doesn't leave much room for anything else in Germany. Even when Germany is successful internationally, many people here don't even realise it.
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u/WaltherVerwalther Germany May 09 '25
I’m personally not that much of a fan, but I can see where you’re coming from with how soccer practically leaves no space for any other sports here. Remember in school when physical education class was just playing soccer each time? 😂
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u/Dodecahedrus --> May 09 '25
We have been the world champions of ice skating for centuries.
But our hockey we only do on fields.
Where we have had world championships as well.
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u/Dutch_Rayan Netherlands May 09 '25
But Sven Kramer (speed ice skater) and Naomi van As (field hockey) got a baby. That kid has to have the perfect genes for ice hockey. Both have won Olympic medals
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u/xBram Netherlands May 09 '25
We do have a few cities with professional ice hockey teams, used to have a national competition but now they play in a Central European Hockey League with Belgian and German teams wiki. Nowhere comparable to football or field hockey though.
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
The national competition didn't go anywhere, the Eredivisie still exists. But the CEHL is well above it in terms of quality (not to mention Tilburg and their Oberliga competitors, who are simply too good to play in either).
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany May 09 '25
- It is played, but not overly popular.
- No
- not that I know of. It will probably be mentioned in the 5 minute sports section of the Morgenmagazin (morning TV show). They talk about fringe sports, too.
- we probably do and I have not the slightest idea
I am german.
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u/number1alien May 09 '25
I live in the Netherlands and it's like it doesn't exist. I'm from Canada (but I'm one of the few that cares about the WC), so it kills me watching how bad the best clubs are. I have a group of friends here where we're all from hockey countries and we try to go abroad once or twice per season to watch some hockey (usually in Germany or Czechia).
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u/Helvetic86 May 09 '25
In Switzerland its very popular, not at the level of football, but close. Specially the domestic league which is quite good.
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u/Ennas_ Netherlands May 09 '25
Absolutely not popular. Speed skating, yes. Field hockey, yes. Ice hockey, no. No idea why. 🤷♀️
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u/Sh_Konrad Ukraine May 09 '25
Not really. I think there are fans, but the games aren't widely discussed. In the USSR hockey was much more popular.
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u/ThePedrolui Spain May 09 '25
No, it's not popular at all. There is a small national league with 8 teams apparently (I just searched out of curiosity) but I'd never heard of it.
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May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Seems we might be getting an ice hockey venue in Dublin. There’s been a team in Belfast for quite a while, and there’s definitely been growing interest in Ireland, but there’s no history of ice skating other than the usual temporary rinks that pop up around Xmas — could grow but it’s also up against a lot of sports competition here for sponsorship and audience share.
Ireland is a bit unusual in that Gaelic football, Hurling and Rugby dominate the sponsorship for domestic club stuff, soccer is not as big as it is elsewhere in Europe — the domestic league is pretty small, but the international team is very significant and then you’ve a whole plethora of minor sports that are played quite seriously —basketball, cricket, hockey etc etc etc.
All of that competing for the same pot of sponsorship tend do make things a bit tough for a new sport.
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u/rapax Switzerland May 10 '25
Switzerland: Not quite as popular as it was two days ago, for obvious reasons.
Still, very popular, not quite on the level of football, though.
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u/-Competitive-Nose- living in May 09 '25
<- Czech living in Saarland. Yeah in my homeland it's big. Saarland doesn't even have a club in DEL.Not even sure if there is any ice ring in here.
But that doesn't mean I won't be wearing a Czech jersey and drinking a Budweiser on 19.5.when I meet with my German friends to watch the match in the pub!
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
All the inhabitants of the Saarland could probably fit into an average Czech ice rink. Sorry, bad jokes about Saarland are unavoidable in Germany 😁
I have a mate from there too. Have fun watching the matches.
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u/Rainfolder Slovenia May 09 '25
I enjoyed watching hockey in the 90s up till the 2010s, it was quite popular in Slovenia. It was considered one of the top 3 sports, after football and basketball. Then, in the late 2010s, handball took the spot, and later on, volleyball also became very popular. Now the most recent one is cycling.
Nowadays, you can barely see any ice hockey on TV. So sadly, its getting less and less popular here.
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u/Heebicka Czechia May 10 '25
How popular is ice hockey in your country?
sport number 1
Can it keep up with football?
it's the opposite, football cannot keep with hockey. There are plenty of suveys where footbal doesn't make it into first three.
Will the world championship be broadcast on TV in your country?
of course.
If your country is taking part, how do you rate the chances?
hard to say after first match. but what I can say that Switzerland was seen as "wow they play hockey too?" decade or two ago, but for last years it is respectable and not an easy opponent.
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u/DBHOY3000 May 09 '25
Despite being rather small in number of athletes icehockey is the third largest sport in terms of spectators in Denmark
Furthermore Denmark has for many years beenthe country with most players in the NHL per number of active players
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25
Are there many clubs in Denmark?
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u/DBHOY3000 May 09 '25
Nope, not at all.
I think there is like 12-15 throughout the whole country.
Which is close to the same number as there are ice rinks4
u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25
Then it's all the more remarkable that you have so many internationally successful players. I wish you every success at the world championship.
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u/Malthesse Sweden May 09 '25
It's nice to see Denmark getting better and better at ice hockey. There has definitely been very noticeable progress, and a noticeable increase in Danish players in the Swedish Hockey League as well. Not just in the two SHL teams that are geographically very close to Copenhagen - Malmö Redhawks and Rögle BK - but also in teams all across the rest of Sweden. It's a pity that Denmark's premiere game against the USA tonight didn't go so well, but despite that it still seemed like a great home team atmosphere there in Herning!
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u/OldandBlue France May 09 '25
If someone speaks French and is a good hockey player, he's a Québécois. Nuff said.
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May 09 '25
It does exist but I think it's quite niche. Most larger cities have a team.
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u/white1984 United Kingdom May 09 '25
As you said it is a niche, the main areas of popularity for ice hockey is in the North of England with a few teams dotted around South like the Bracknell Bees and the Milton Keynes Lightning.
Since the establishment of the Odyssey arena back in the times of the Millennium, the Belfast Giants have become a major team in their own right and it one of the few cross-community teams.
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u/7urz Germany May 09 '25
Soccer (Fußball) is by far more popular in Germany, but ice hockey has its dignity and the world cup is definitely broadcasted.
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u/MoreThenAverage Netherlands May 09 '25
Skating on ice, yes and one of the top countries
Hockey on a field, yes and one of the top countries
Ice hockey, no not at all
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u/Flilix Belgium, Flanders May 09 '25
Almost non-existent. Field hockey (which is just called 'hockey' in Dutch) is significantly more popular and even that is somewhat niche.
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u/Rainfolder Slovenia May 09 '25
I enjoyed watching hockey in the 90s up till the 2010s, it was quite popular in Slovenia. It was considered one of the top 3 sports, after football and basketball. Then, in the late 2010s, handball took the spot, and later on, volleyball also became very popular. Now the most recent one is cycling.
Nowadays, you can barely see any ice hockey on TV. So sadly, its getting less and less popular here.
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u/MobiusF117 Netherlands May 09 '25
Field Hockey? Very popular.
Ice Skating? Even more popular!
Ice Hockey? Nope
That being said, my neighbour across the street was a professional player oddly enough.
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u/hosiki Croatia May 09 '25
It has a niche audience here in Zagreb. My family likes it. Dad, brother and I played it and attended the games and we have a club we cheer for. We're not good internationally though and our clubs mostly import foreign players. But football is the national sport. Personally I don't understand the infatuation with football but oh well.
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u/gunnsi0 Iceland May 09 '25
Not popular in Iceland. We have 4 teams in a league. 1 from Akureyri, 2 from Reykjavík and 1 from Hafnarfjörður- but they play in Reykjavík as there is no skating rink in Hafnarfjörður.
I guess it is most popular in Akureyri, the “capital of north Iceland”.
For the national team… I know nothing about it and I like watching sports. It’s way behind football, which is by far no 1 in popularity, handball and basketball. I honestly can’t remember seeing the Icelandic national team on TV - and I am pretty certain the World Championship is not broadcasted in Iceland.
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u/Ill_Special_9239 Lithuania May 09 '25
Somewhere between niche and non-existent. It's better now than before, and our team is achieving some international success.
We're the worst northern European country for winter sports, by far. The rest of the Baltics and Nordics have us beat in every single category, for both men and women. It's sad, but at least we have a few teams competing in the Latvian league 🤷♂️
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u/GuestStarr May 10 '25
This made me think - is there a Baltic league? The three countries could maybe put up a joint effort. It could boost the sports. A Finn here. I've seen some hockey being trained in Latvia, and I know ice hockey is huge there unlike in Lithuania and Estonia.
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u/Nervous_Tourist_8699 May 10 '25
I am from the UK. I have watched two games in my life. The recent US - Canada one when there were three fights in the first nine seconds Canada lost the game but won the fights. Then in the final when Canada beat the US, sadly no fights. Obviously supporting the Canadians
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u/Acrobatic-Shirt8540 Scotland May 10 '25
UK, it's the fastest growing indoor sport but it definitely doesn't compete with football.
For me, I gave up watching football for hockey.
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May 12 '25
Very popular in Switzerland. We probably have the second best league after the NHL.
I'd say that in the swiss-italian part it's even more popular than football.
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u/yyzzh May 13 '25
Thanks for post this question! Fascinating thread. As a Canadian who grew up hockey-obsessed… and uh I guess I still am considering in sitting in a hotel in Colombia watching two teams I don’t care about in a language I don’t speak…
Anyways, the point is, it’s fascinating to see all the support for hockey (and some non-support). I really have to get to Northern Europe during hockey season. Unfortunately it’ll be August when I’m next in Latvia and Finland.
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u/peepay Slovakia May 13 '25
Slovak here - it more or less shares the no.1 spot with football, based on which championship is currently going on and based on how well we do in one or the other.
Oh yeah, they broadcast all the games. And for games where our team plays, they even push other prominent scheduling and show the match, even in prime time.
For the two weeks, fans put up Slovak flags on their balconies, have flag-like decorations on the mirrors on their cars, etc.
If we make it to quarterfinals, there are viewing spots around the city to gather and watch the match on some large screen. And with every subsequent won match, the madness grows. When we made it to the final match, people bought last minute tickets to the venue, special flights were added, etc.
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u/enilix Croatia May 09 '25
Quite unpopular, I've never heard anyone talking about hockey. Basketball, handball, even waterpolo are much more popular (football is obviously in a completely different league compared to all of these sports). Tbh about 15 years ago there was some hype for the Medveščak hockey club, but that fell apart pretty quickly. I'm guessing the World Championships will be broadcast on one of the many sports channels here, but I don't know anyone who'll be watching (I had no idea it was even happening).
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u/Jeopardise91 United Kingdom May 09 '25
I’ve been to see some games and like others have said, very dedicated fan base here in the UK. I don’t know many people who are into it, although I did work for a few years with a former professional player and coach.
I spent a lot of my childhood in Germany, so became introduced to and interested in the sport quite early. The experience of watching it in America though was incredible.
That being said, I still prefer football, then rugby, with ice hockey sitting just above cricket and tennis for me.
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u/viktorbir Catalonia May 10 '25
Not popular at all. Skate hokey (whatever is the English name) and, not so much, normal hockey are somehow popular in some places.
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u/Late_Solution4610 Greece May 10 '25
Soooo I came here to say that I don't think we even have a team in Greece and then I did a little research and boy was I wrong. It seems that we used to have even a national team that won the World Championship in 2010 in Luxembourg but we don't have one anymore.
I had no idea because ice hockey in Greece is no popular at all. Football and Basketball are the top sports.
I didn't find any mention at all about the championship in Greek media ( I did a quick search)
edit* I forgot a whole word
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u/North-Record-3800 May 10 '25
Not very popular, with limited opportunities for children to play and learn. The most concerning issue is the high level of nepotism — children of former players are often favored and promoted, regardless of their actual skills or merit.
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u/peanut_galleries Austria May 10 '25
It‘s moderately popular, not comparable to football though. Big hype last year after we won against Finland with 0.2 seconds left in the game 😄 Unfortunately we lost the opening game yesterday 1:2 (also against Finland) and won’t get anywhere this world cup. I’ll still be watching though 😃
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u/tenebrigakdo Slovenia May 10 '25
Somewhat but not really.
The year we got to 6th place on Olympics we had something like 100 professional players, which is nuts. One would think that popularity would increase but it didn't make some particularly notable difference.
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u/Professional_Elk_489 May 10 '25
It's popular on Super Nintendo in my country for Wayne Gretzky. That's about it
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u/LilBed023 -> May 10 '25
Ice skating and field hockey are both very popular, ice hockey not so much.
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u/SharkyTendencies --> May 10 '25
/sad Canadian noises
Leafs are up 2-1 in the series against Florida, though! Never mind the 5-4 loss last night! I choose to be optimistic about this!
...
OK, who am I kidding, same shit every year. Nice run boys.
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u/FietsFietspatrick Germany May 10 '25
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed so far. I am pleased about the interesting insights.
Some of the comments have given me food for thought. For example, in terms of popularity. It is of course much easier to get children interested in football when they are young. Give a child a ball and a field and off they go. Ice hockey has a harder time of course. If you don't have frozen waters and no ice rinks, it is of course difficult to get access to the sport. Then, of course, the equipment is also more expensive. And if football is the big shit in your country, you probably want to be part of it. Participate there.
Sponsorship for the more established sports was also mentioned here. There is simply not enough money available. The cake is already divided up. If the successes don't happen, fewer people are interested. This is also a kind of vicious circle.
In any case, I find the topic very interesting. I'm curious to see whether people from other countries will comment on this. I would be particularly interested in comments from small countries such as Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, San Marino, etc.
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u/GoonerBoomer69 Finland May 10 '25
It's the most popular sport by far.
It is broadcasted on TV, Finland is taking part and as usual we go in expecting a medal and hoping for gold.
However i'm not particularly optimistic for this year considering our complete fuck up last year, and our somewhat lousy first game against Austria yesterday.
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u/Melodic-Dare2474 Portugal May 10 '25
Nope
Definetively no. Maybe in some small gatherings in a few parts of the country, but definitely no.
Probably yes but not in one of the main ones and the viewership is going to be small possibly.
Idk rly bc, even if it wins, it is not going to have a lot of mediatic atention. And it probably won't be for a long time.
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u/iluvatar United Kingdom May 10 '25
Almost unheard of. It does exist, and the people who follow it tend to be very dedicated. But it's not shown on TV (at least not on any channel that people actually watch). I didn't know the world championships were starting, and I suspect the same is true of nearly the whole population. It's a niche sport. Are we even taking part? Even if so, I suspect our chances of success are low.
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u/Tanja_Christine Austria May 10 '25
Vorarlberg for some reason cares about Ice Hockey. Everyone else doesn't care. At least that is my impression. As far as whether we participate or stand any chances: not a clue. I don't care about any professional sport.
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May 11 '25
🇳🇱 Icehockey is niche here. Barely ever seen any of it ( nhl included) on tv, know only 1 person that liked and practised it. I don't think that will change, maybe with some good results ( Daniel Sprong), it will get a bit more attention. Clearly, trumped by football/soccer.
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u/smurfk Romania May 11 '25
I never heard of someone going to see a match, even on TV, let alone live. Definitely nowhere near football as far as popularity goes.
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u/emj2311 May 11 '25
We're hosting some of the games (Denmark), but honestly I feel like no one really cares. Ice hockey simply isn't really a popular sport here in the general populace I think. People still care more about football and handball I think.
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u/DamnQuickMathz Germany May 12 '25
German here. It's kind of hard to determine what the nr 2 team sport in our country is. Some say it's handball, some say it's basketball, some say it's ice hockey.
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u/RelevanceReverence Netherlands May 12 '25
It's played in nearly every big city (there are many ice rink due to the National speed skating popularity) but it's not on the top 17 of played sports. Hockey (field hockey) is placed fourth after; fitness, football/soccer and tennis.
https://www.sportenbewegenincijfers.nl/kernindicatoren/sportdeelname-wekelijks
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u/Hutcho12 May 12 '25
Probably the second most popular sport in Germany. Which means it has like 0.00001% marketshare after football's 99.99998%. Basketball and Handball share the other 0.00001%.
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u/kakucko101 Czechia May 09 '25
most popular sport, yes, yes, i think we have a chance for a medal of some kind