Three periods
A game is three 20-minute periods of 5-on-5 hockey, with intermissions in between. The team that scores more goals wins.
Switzerland · 2026–27
NL, explained.
Switzerland. One table. One Swiss championship. Here’s the quick guide.
Switzerland's National League is the alpine top flight: a compact regular season, a playoff for the Swiss championship, and a promotion path from the Swiss League.
A short history
The National League is the current name of Switzerland's highest hockey league, long one of Europe's best-attended circuits.
How the league works
Same ice, same three periods — then a points race into a national playoff.
Standings points
A regulation win is worth three points. An overtime or shootout win is two. An overtime or shootout loss is one. A regulation loss is zero.
Overtime
Most European regular-season games that are tied after 60 minutes go to a short overtime, then a shootout. Playoff overtime is usually played until someone scores.
Power play
A penalty puts the other team a skater up. That extra-man advantage is the power play; the shorthanded side is on the penalty kill.
Offside and icing
A player cannot enter the offensive zone ahead of the puck (offside). Icing is shooting the puck the length of the ice from behind centre; play stops and the faceoff comes back.
The table
National League ranks clubs by points through the regular season, then seeds the playoff that awards the Swiss championship.
The season
Training camp in late summer, a fall-to-spring regular season, then a spring playoff.
How the playoffs work
The champion is the club that wins the Swiss championship playoff — not always the team that finished first in the regular season.
Who gets in
A set number of clubs from the regular-season table qualify. Some leagues also run a play-in or a relegation round underneath the title race.
Knockout rounds
Series are usually best-of-five or best-of-seven. Home ice goes to the higher seed.
The title
The last club standing is the Swiss championship champion.