The German Women's Ice Hockey League was created in 1988–89. Previously, the national championship took the form of a tournament featuring the best teams from the various regional federations. The Bundesliga was initially split into two divisions, North and South, with a final championship tournament at the end of the season, but in April 2006, the participating teams voted to have only a single division, starting from the 2006–07 season.
2022–23 season Six teams participated in the 2022–23 DFEL season, following the withdrawal of
Düsseldorfer EG after the 2019–20 season and the withdrawal of
EC Köln ("Die Haie") after the 2021–22 season. The regular season began on 1 October 2022 and concluded on 19 February 2023. ECDC Memmingen were the regular season champions; the team featured both the league’s top scorer, American forward
Theresa Knutson, and best goaltender,
Emma Schweiger. The top four teams from the regular season qualified for the playoffs, which were played on a
best-of-five tournament schedule. In the semifinals, ECDC Memmingen swept
ESC Planegg-Würmtal to take the series in three games and the
Mad Dogs Mannheim bested
ERC Ingolstadt in four games. ECDC Memmingen did not slow down in the German Championship finals, sweeping Mad Dogs Mannheim in three games to claim the team’s fourth championship title.
2023–24 season With the addition of the
Amsterdam Tigers, seven teams participated in the 2023–24 DFEL season; the Amsterdam Tigers were the 2022–23 winners of the Netherlands' championship. The regular season began on 23 September 2023 and concluded on 25 February 2024. Each team played 24 games, facing every opponent twice at home and twice away. ==Teams==