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Maxa liga
Upcoming season or competition:; 2024–25 Czech 1. Liga season
Sport	Ice hockey
Founded	1993
No. of teams	14
Country	Czech Republic
Most recent; champion(s)	VHK Vsetín (2nd title)
Promotion to	Czech Extraliga
Relegation to	Czech 2.liga
Related; competitions	Czech Extraliga; Czech 2.liga
Official website	hokej.cz/maxa-liga

The Maxa liga^[1] is the second-highest level of professional ice hockey in the Czech Republic, after the Extraliga. It began in 1993 and is run and administered by Czech Ice Hockey Association.

Until 2015, the league was known as the 1st Czech National Hockey League. It was then known as the WSM Liga until 2018,^[2] and the Chance Liga until 2024.^[3]

Format (2023-24)

In the first phase, every team plays each other four times—twice at home and twice away—which makes for a 52-game regular season.

After the 52-game regular season, the first six teams directly qualify for the quarter-finals, while teams which placed 7 to 10 play a round-robin to determine the final two participants in the quarter-finals.

The playoffs end with the finals, with the winning team go on to face the bottom team from the Extraliga in a round-robin. The winner of the round-robin is promoted to Extraliga for the following season.

The last placed team at the end of the regular season is directly relegated to the Second League for the following season. They are replaced by the winner of a 3 team round-robin group between the winners of the East, the Central and the West divisions of the Second League.

Three points are awarded for a win in regulation time and two points for an overtime or shootout victory, while the team defeated in overtime or shootout gets one point.

The level of 1. národní hokejová liga is slightly lower than the Czech Extraliga, but there are a lot of players moving between those two leagues every season. Each team in this league is allowed to have five imports. The league has no salary cap, with an average salary of USD 2200 per month, but some of the best players reportedly sign contracts for more than USD 5000 per month, plus most of the teams cover accommodation expenses for their players during the season.

Current teams (2023-24)

Team	City	Arena	Capacity	Affiliate Team
HC Baník Sokolov	Sokolov	Zimni stadion Sokolov	5,000	independent
VHK ROBE Vsetín	Vsetín	Zimní stadion Na Lapači	5,386	independent
HC Slavia Praha	Prague	Zimní stadion Eden	4,000	independent
HC Stadion Litoměřice	Litoměřice	Kalich arena	1,750	independent
HC ZUBR Přerov	Přerov	Zimní stadion Přerov	3,000	independent
HC Frýdek-Místek	Frýdek-Místek	Hala Polárka	2,056	HC Oceláři Třinec (ELH)
LHK Jestřábi Prostějov	Prostějov	Zimní hokejový stadion Prostějov	5,125	independent
HC Dukla Jihlava	Jihlava	CZ LOKO Arena	6,500	independent
SK Horácká Slavia Třebíč	Třebíč	Zimní stadion města Třebíče	5,000	independent
HC RT TORAX Poruba	Poruba	Zimní stadion Ostrava - Poruba	5,000	independent
HC Dynamo Pardubice B	Chrudim	Zimní stadion Chrudim	1,744	HC Dynamo Pardubice (ELH)
SC Kolín	Kolín	Zimní stadion Kolín	5,500	Mountfield HK (ELH)
Piráti Chomutov	Chomutov	Rocknet Arena	4,020	HC Litvínov (ELH)
Berani Zlin	Zlín	Zimní stadion Luďka Čajky	7,000	independent