The Premier Division of the England Hockey League returns to action this weekend for the start of the 2025/26 season.
The 2024/25 campaign created exciting competitions and storylines throughout the season, completed with Surbiton that cancel the title of the Men’s Premier Division to prevent old Georgians from lifting their fourth consecutive league title. While reading women defeated champions, Surbiton, in the Premier Division final to win their first title since 2013.
Promoted Teams Reading and Brooklands Manchester University will compete this season in the Open/Men’s Premier Division, while Barnes and Durham University in Women’s Premier Division enter the competition last season.
Just like the last two English Hockey League Premier Division Seasons, the coming campaign will see a season of 19 games and a final weekend. This is how every phase works in the run -up to the Finals weekend where the Premier Division champions from 2025/26 are crowned.
Matches 1-11 (20 September-22 November)
The opening phase of the season acts as a standard League format.
All 12 teams from each competition will compete against each other (11 games) with a point system of:
Win = three points
Draw = one point
Loss = zero points
After the first 11 games, the competitions are split in two, depending on the last classification of each team.
Corresponds to 12-16 (Dates TB)
Teams that have been placed first to sixth from their opening will compete in the top six competition, while teams that are placed seventh to twelfth will compete in the lower six competition.
Teams then play a total of five games and each team play once in their respective competition.
The last classification of the total of 16 games will decide that the polar groups are on their way to the Finals Weekend Play Offs.
Matches 17-19, Play Offs (Dates TB)
The next three games contain three Polish. The top eight teams, of the first 16 games, go to the Finals Weekend Play Off Pools (Pool A and Pool B).
Pool A will have the first, fourth, fifth and eight placed team.
Pool B will contain the second, third, sixth and seventh -placed team.
These teams have restarted their pointed totals and start again at zero points. These teams will each play each of their pool teams, in a total of three games.
Win = three points
Draw = one point and an extra bonus point for the Shootout winner
Loss = zero points
The top two teams of both Pool A and B continue to the final weekend.
The lower four teams from the opening 16 games of the season (ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth) will compete in Pool C.
These teams will transfer their points from the previous games played and will also play each other with a total of three games.
These matches will follow the same point system as played in earlier phases without a shootout will be played for a bonus point in a scenario of a draw.
The bottom two teams from Pool C are relegated to Division One North & South, while the winners of these two divisions are promoted to the Premier Division for the 2026/27 season.
Final weekend (Date and location TBC)
The top two teams of Pool A and B of both the Open/Men’s and Women’s Premier Division will compete during the Finals weekend where two champions are crowned.
Semi-final is played between the first place of swimming pool A and the second place of Pool B, and the first place of Pool B and the second place of Pool A.
These competitions will be in a one-Match-Knock-out format with the winners of each semifinal that will continue with the Premier Division Finals match, while the losers of each semi-final play each other with a chance of European qualification for the winner.
The winners of each semi-final play in the Premier Division Finals, where the winner is crowned Prime Minister Division Champions 2025/26 and will earn the best Eurohockey Club spot in England for the next season.
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