Switzerland

Switzerland is an European country, bordered by Austria, Germany, France and Italy. It's capital is Bern and there are some 7.5 million inhabitants. The Alps run through the center of the country.

Organisation
Ice hockey in Switzerland is partially promotion and relegation-based. The top level is the National League, which is divided in two: the National League A, which counts 12 teams, and the National League B, also with 12 teams. Promotion and relegation exists between these two levels. Below the National League comes the Regio League. There are four of these, numbered 1 to 4. The 1.Liga is divided into three regional groups, Ostschweiz, Zentralschweiz and Suisse Romande; all the leagues below are also subdivided into groups, all of which falling into one of the three regions of the 1.Liga. Here is a schema that illustrates the organization of Swiss hockey:

History of hockey in Switzerland
The first ice hockey games in Switzerland were played in 1902, and eight clubs in the French part of Switzerland created the country's first hockey league. In 1908, the Swiss Hockey Union was founded, and it became a member of the IIHF.

International
The Swiss men's national ice hockey team is a founding member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and is controlled by the Schweizerischer Eishockeyverband. As of 2008 the Swiss team was ranked 7th in the IIHF World Ranking. Switzerland has not won a medal at a major ice hockey tournament since a bronze medal at the 1953 World Championships, but they came close in 1998, finishing in 4th place.

The Swiss national hockey team scored two historic, unexpected upsets at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, defeating the Czech Republic 3-2 and blanking Canada 2-0 two days later. They finally fell to Sweden in the quarterfinals.

Switzerland has a total of 24,705 players (0.35% of its population). Their coach is Sean Simpson. Swiss junior teams have also earned medals at IIHF Championships. The Swiss women's team won bronze medals in European Championship in 1995, and finished fifth at the World Championships in 1990.

Some great Swiss players

 * Mark Streit
 * Bibi Torriani
 * Jonas Hiller
 * Damien Brunner

National Teams

 * Switzerland men's national ice hockey team
 * Switzerland national junior ice hockey team
 * Switzerland men's national U-18 ice hockey team
 * Switzerland women's national ice hockey team
 * Switzerland women's national U-18 ice hockey team