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Hey Gamers, The groups and schedules for each ECL '26: Pre-Season level is now available and you can start reaching out to your fellow captains to confirm game times and reschedule where necessary. Get your lineups ready and hit the ice — the ECL ‘26 Pre-Season starts now ECL Pre-Season Information Elite & Pro See schedule here Only ECL Elite & ECL Pro teams, and by special request wildcard & qualifier teams This is a friendly warmup tournament, no need to argue (=no League Admin cases) Regular season 30.10-10.11 Teams are divided into two groups Top 4 from each group makes it into the playoffs Playoffs (BO5) 13.-16.11 (Quarterfinals) 17.-20.11 (Semifinals) 23-25.11 (Finals) Lite & Core See schedule here Only ECL Lite & ECL Core teams, and by special request wildcard teams & qualifier teams This is a friendly warmup tournament, no need to argue (=no League Admin cases) Regular season 30.10-10.11 Teams are divided into ten groups Top 3 from each group, plus the best two #4 teams make it into the playoffs Playoffs (BO3) 12-13.11 (RO32) 16.-17.11 (RO16) 19.-20.11 (Quarterfinals) 23-25.11 (Semifinals) 27.11 (Finals) Neo & Newcomers See schedule here Only ECL Neo & Newcomer teams This is a friendly warmup tournament, no need to argue (=no League Admin cases) Regular season 30.10-12.11 Teams are divided into six groups Top 2 from each group, plus the best four #3 teams make it into the playoffs. Playoffs (BO3) 13-14.11 (RO16) 16.-17.11 (Quarterfinals) 19.-20.11 (Semifinals) 23-24.11 (Finals) Uniform and logo unlocks for organizations This form is intended for organizations associated with SportsGamer to request primarily uniform and logo unlocks in order to represent their team appropriately. Here is a link for the unlocks form: https://forms.gle/3RezYrzCm1yZFFdU9 Rules Although the Pre-Season Tournament will not be under as strict scrutiny as the ECL, we want to remind you to respect your opponents and go about the games just as you would when playing real ECL league matchups. Rules: ECL '26: Winter Official Rules | Also see ECL ’26: Winter - Ability & Build Bans If teams are tied in points after the group stage, we will utilize these usual tie-breakers: Wins (including OT-wins) Head-to-head record (points in mutual games) Goal difference (across all games played) Scored goals (across all games played) We hope you're as excited as we are to get back into the action - build your team, sign up, and have fun! The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports. The abbreviation stands for the European Championship League and it features NHL 6v6 esports in five divisions aimed at various skill levels. Every player, including the goalies, is controlled by a human. League games are played in the EASHL mode and the platform is PlayStation and Xbox. ECL has been played since 2015. Basic information/requirements of ECL: The tournament will be played on the NHL 26 (PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X/S) Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude players located in North America or Asia. A European server will always be used. We reserve the right to exclude teams or players in case of severe connection issues. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at SportsGamer.GG and create their personal player card. ECL licenses: Teams in ECL Elite & ECL Pro, ECL Lite, and ECL Core will require their respective ECL ‘26: Winter team licenses in order to play. In addition, every player in the above-mentioned divisions needs to have a valid ECL ‘26: Player License or ECL ‘26: Winter Player License before taking the ice. Players in ECL Neo require only an ECL '26: Winter Neo Player License. The ECL '26 Pre-Season tournament does not require the license, Rules: ECL '26: Winter Official Rules | Also see ECL ’26: Winter - Ability & Build Bans

Hey Gamers, After community feedback, and internal testing, we have decided to add Warrior to the list of banned traits. This decision is based on the idea that using Warrior leads to situations where players are unfairly given an advantage, for example where a player is hit and recovers faster than the player who made the hit. Additionally, there is the possible meta interaction to consider where banning Truculence, but leaving Warrior available could, and from observation of recent games has, lead to a large increase in Warrior use due to it not having a natural 'counter' available to players – tilting the scales in favour of forwards vs. defenders. As stated previously, we have been monitoring the community discussion and while there is an active ongoing discussion about the banning of other traits, especially Sponge, at this time we have only received concrete evidence of Warrior exhibiting game-altering behaviour, and as such we have elected to not include any additional traits in this latest ban update. Our intention by implementing this change before the start of the ECL pre-season is to provide teams with as stable a base as possible in their ongoing preparations for the upcoming ECL ’26: Winter season. As far as other traits go, we will of course continue to examine community feedback, as well as gameplay balance, and revisit if need be, but at present the evidence in front of us leads us to believe that no other remaining unbanned traits are in the game altering position that Warriors holds. ECL ’26: Winter Restrictions After extensive discussion and testing, the League Administration has decided to continue restricting several player Abilities and Builds that were found to have a disproportionate impact on gameplay. The following restrictions apply across all ECL divisions for the ECL ’26: Winter season. 🛑 Banned Abilities All tiers (Gold, Blue, and Red) of the following abilities are banned: Big Rig Big Tipper Elite Edges Hipster No Contest Pressure+ Spark Plug Truculence Unstoppable Warrior Wheels These abilities have shown to create unbalanced or unintended gameplay advantages, reducing the importance of player skill and positioning. Specifically, as a category, we have wanted to slow down the gameplay by prohibiting abilities that add significant speed boosts. The bans help ensure that all players compete on an even playing field, where awareness and execution matter most. ⚔️ Position-Based Build Restrictions To further preserve role balance and gameplay authenticity: Forwards cannot use defensive classes: Defensive Defender, Enforcer Defender, Offensive Defender, Two-Way Defender, Puck Moving Defender Defenders cannot use forward classes: Dangler, Enforcer, Grinder, Playmaker, Power Forward, Sniper, Two-Way Forward Additionally, skaters and goalies cannot use special characters or custom character builds. 🧾 Enforcement Violations of the above bans will be handled as follows: 1st Infraction – Team captain warning + player suspended for 2 games + potential WO loss* 2nd Infraction – Second captain warning + full lineup warning + player suspended for 4 games + potential WO loss* 3rd Infraction – Captain suspended for 2 games + player suspended for 4 games + 2-point deduction + potential WO loss* *A Walkover (WO) loss will only apply if the offending team was clearly informed and continued to use banned Abilities or Builds afterward. Clear video evidence is required when reporting violations. You can view the full ECL '26: Winter - Official Rules here. Looking Forward While the overall ability structure remains similar to previous seasons, the addition of position-based build restrictions represents another step toward a stronger global standard. As always, we’ll continue to monitor gameplay trends and community feedback throughout the Winter season and forward your feedback directly to EA SPORTS. Thank you once again for your ongoing passion and input — it’s what continues to drive the ECL forward. Best regards, League Administration