The Eishockey-Bundesliga ("Federal Ice Hockey League") was formed in 1958 as the elite hockey competition in the Federal Republic of Germany, replacing the Oberliga in this position.Klein, p. 12 From the 1994–95 season, it was in turn replaced by the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, which now also carries the name 1st Bundesliga in its logo. The DEL, originally administered by the DEB, the German Ice Hockey Federation, became an independent league in 1997.Die Geschichte des Eishockey DEB website - History of German ice hockey, accessed: 18 December 2011
With the German reunion, the Bundesliga became a truly nationwide league, initially including two teams from the former East Germany.
History
Pre-Bundesliga era Ice hockey was first played in Germany in 1887, in Berlin, and it was there that the first ice hockey department of a sports club was formed, as part of the Berliner SC.
The history of the German ice hockey championship began in 1912 when the Berliner SC won the first edition of the competition. The BSC was also to become the most dominating side in German ice hockey before the Second World War, winning 17 out of a possible 21 editions until 1937, with its best run of six consecutive championships between 1928 and 1933. The MTV München (1922), SC Riessersee (1927 & 1935) and Brandenburg Berlin (1934) were the only other clubs to earn some honours in this era.
From 1938 onwards, the national championship featured Austrian clubs as well and twice the title went to Vienna after this. The war disrupted the championship and between 1941 and 1947 only one season was played, in 1944. In this era, teams came from all over Germany, including areas that would not be part of Germany any more after 1945.
Ice hockey restarted in the occupied Germany in 1947 and began with two regional leagues, north and south, of which the two champions played a national final, won by SC Riessersee, which marked the beginning of a Bavarian dominance in the sport in Germany. In the following year, the Eishockey-Oberliga () was formed, consisting of six clubs, those being the SC Riessersee, EV Füssen, Augsburger EV, Preußen Krefeld, Krefelder EV and VfL Bad Nauheim. The EV Füssen soon became the dominating side of this era, winning seven titles in twelve seasons, six of those in series from 1953 to 1958. Apart from Füssen, the Oberliga proved an inconsistent league, with members fluctuating season-by-season and consequently, in 1958, the decision was made to form a Bundesliga, the first ever league in Germany to carry that name.
The 1950s In autumn 1958, the new Ice hockey Bundesliga started with eight clubs in its first season. Apart from Riessersee, Füssen and the two teams from Krefeld, the EC Bad Tölz, Mannheimer ERC, Düsseldorfer EG and the SG Weßling/Starnberg were also part of this first season. The league was played in a home-and-away format, 14 games per team, with no play-offs at the end, which were only introduced in 1980. The top placed team in the league won the championship, the EV Füssen, while the teams placed seventh and eighth were relegated, the DEG and Weßling/Starnberg. And while the champions only lost one game all season Weßling/Starnberg managed to only win one, with the club promptly dissolved at the end.Klein, p. 14–15
In its second season, the Bundesliga saw the end of EV Füssen's series of seven championships in a row, with the title going to SC Riessersee instead after a championship-clinching game at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in front of 12,000 that saw SCR win 6–4. Riessersee only lost one game all season, away against EVF, and drew once, the first 0-all draw in Bundesliga history. In a league with an unchanged modus, the two new clubs, VfL Bad Nauheim and ESV Kaufbeuren, finished last. Only one team was relegated however, Kaufbeuren.Klein, p. 16–17 The season also saw the league's biggest ever score and highest defeat when Bad Tölz beat Kaufbeuren 28–0.Klein, p. 95
The 1960s In its third season, 1960–61, the league remained at a strength of eight clubs but doubled the number of season games to 28 per team. Füssen rectified the slip-up of the previous year, winning the league again, Bad Nauheim was relegated and new team Eintracht Dortmund survived in seventh place.Klein, p. 18–19
The 1961–62 modus was different again from the previous year. After 14 games each the league was split into top- and bottom eight, with each group playing another home-and-away series just against the teams in its group. The reason for this was the large gap between top and bottom clubs which resulted in very one-sided games. The EC Bad Tölz became the third different champion in four seasons while newly promoted club ESV Kaufbeuren finished fifth and Eintracht Dortmund last. Direct relegation was however abolished and Dortmund had the chance to hold the league in a promotion-relegation round, which it completed successfully.Klein, p. 20–21
The following year saw Füssen on top again and Dortmund last in an unchanged modus. This time however the club from Westphalia could not hold the league and EV Landshut was promoted instead.Klein, p. 22–23 EV Füssen also took out the next two championships, 1963–64 and 1964–65, while Preußen Krefeld (1964) and Eintracht Dortmund (1965) were the relegated teams.Klein, p. 24–25Klein, p. 28–29 In between, in June 1963, the DEB was formed, ice hockey having previously been part of the Deutsche Eissport-Verband.
The 1965–66 season saw the league expanded to ten teams, with the Düsseldorfer EG, Preußen Krefeld and VfL Bad Nauheim all making a return. After a home-and-away season of 18 games each, which the EV Füssen won with an eleven-point advantage, the league was split again between top and bottom, now two groups of five. Unlike in the past however, points from the first part of the season could not be transferred and EC Bad Tölz was crowned champions with a two-point advantage despite having earned nine points less than EVF. At the bottom of the league, the VfL Bad Nauheim dropped out again and was replaced by the former champions Berliner SC.Klein, p. 30–31
The 1966–67 season, in retrospect, marked a turning point of German ice hockey, also not an instantaneous one, the shift from the dominance of small-town Bavarian teams to the clubs from the large cities. The Düsseldorfer EG ended a spell of championships for Bavarian clubs that had lasted since 1951 and also condemned the EV Füssen to a fourth-place finish, the worst in its post war era at the time. The league itself was played with ten teams again, but the modus had changed. A northern and a southern division of five clubs each was played followed by a six team championship round of the best three of each division. The bottom clubs in the league had to face the best teams of the second tier in the promotion-relegation round and SC Riessersee, ESV Kaufbeuren and Berliner SC were all relegated and replaced with the VfL Bad Nauheim, the short-lived merger club SG Oberstdorf/Sonthofen and the equally short-lived ice hockey department of FC Bayern Munich.Klein, p. 32–33 The season also produced the second-ever goalless draw when neither Mannheim nor Düsseldorfer scored during their game, something that would not happen again until 1987–88.
EV Füssen took out the league title once more in 1967–68, in a season with only slight modifications to the modus. Of the bottom two teams of each division which had to defend their league place the northern clubs both succeeded while the southern clubs both failed. SG Oberstdorf/Sonthofen consequently folded while the FC Bayern was saved by the fact that the league was expanded to twelve teams.Klein, p. 34–35
The league expansion of 1968 is generally explained by the fact that the German ice hockey federation, the DEB, wanted the two clubs that had finished third and failed in the promotion round in the league as they were big names, the ice hockey departments of FC Bayern and Eintracht Frankfurt. Neither impressed during a season that saw EV Füssen defend its title, the last club to do so until 1987. New to the league, apart from Frankfurt, were the Augsburger EV, while the SC Riessersee made a return. At the end of the season, FC Bayern was relegated and soon disbanded its ice hockey department. Preußen Krefeld was the other team dropping out of the league and the club folded only two years later.Klein, p. 36–37
The league remained at a strength of twelve teams for the 1969–70 season, with ESV Kaufbeuren and Kölner EK the new teams. The modus however had been changed again, all teams played a home-and-away round in a single division, 22 games each. At the end of this, the best eight teams played another home-and-away round against each other. The championship was won for the first time by the EV Landshut, while Cologne and Frankfurt were relegated.Klein, p. 38–39 The Bad Tölz versus Bad Nauheim produced the highest ever draw in the league when the two sides finished the game with scoren eight goals each, a result repeat later a number of times in the 1980s.
The 1970s The 1970–71 saw the league reduced to ten teams but the number of season games remaining at 36 per club. Because of this, the league did not have a new club in it and ended with the familiar result of EV Füssen taking out another championship. In this season, the league also introduced the Friday-Sunday rhythm of games, with a team playing one home and one away game per weekend, a system that would remain in place for the duration of the league and beyond. At the bottom end, the Mannheimer ERC was relegated, to be replaced with Preußen Krefeld, at least in theory.Klein, p. 40–41
Only nine clubs competed in the 1971–72 season because Preußen Krefeld, who had won promotion in an impressive fashion the previous year, folded and was never to reform. Consequently, no club had to fear relegation while the Düsseldorfer EG, the best supported club in Germany with a spectator average of almost 10,000 per home game, took out the championship while EV Füssen came second.Klein, p. 42–43
The following year, this order was reversed with the EVF first and the DEG second. It was to be the last-ever title for the club from Füssen and marked the end of the Bavarian dominance, with championships going to the state now becoming as rare as they had been commonplace. The league modus experienced another change when, instead of ten clubs the league was expanded to eleven, courtesy to the promotion of both Berliner SC and EV Rosenheim. The later was found to be uncompetitive in the league however, only accumulating twelve points in 40 season games and being relegated again. Alongside the EVR, ESV Kaufbeuren was also relegated while the big-spending newcomer from Berlin finished fifth. It was also the last season of the Oberliga as the second division, the 2nd Bundesliga being introduced in 1973.Klein, p. 44–45
After a 37-year wait, the Berliner SC won another championship in 1973–74 in a league which had returned to ten clubs and 36 season games. New to the Bundesliga was the Kölner EC while the Augsburger EV was relegated and the ESV Kaufbeuren promoted.Klein, p. 46–47
The 1974–75 seasons saw a continuation of the south–north shift of German ice hockey, with the financially strong northern clubs recruiting a large number of players from the southern ones. Consequently, spectator numbers for the Bavarian clubs like Riessersee, Bad Tölz and Füssen went down, making it even more difficult to retain their young players. In the north, another championship was won by the well-supported DEG, with Berlin coming second. At the bottom end, Kaufbeuren was replaced by Rosenheim for the next season.Klein, p. 58–59