Bad Nauheim

Bad Nauheim built its identity as a spa town in Hesse.

Hockey there began in 1946, when players who had fled East Prussia formed an ice hockey department inside VfL Bad Nauheim. The vice-championship followed two years later, in 1948. Financial strain eventually forced a split: in 1981 the hockey side broke away as its own entity, EC Bad Nauheim, and between 2004 and 2013 it played under the name that has since become its everyday nickname, Rote Teufel — the Red Devils.

Insolvency proceedings around the turn of the millennium tipped it into relegation to the Oberliga in 2004, and it took until 2013 to climb back to the second tier.