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NHLGamers, With the addition of our new ECL Core division comes a transition period, which takes time and to allow for that change we are now launching signups well ahead of the league start. The signups are now open, so tell your friends and get ready for the greatest NHL gaming experience to date! Signups will be open until Wednesday, 7.4 OR Monday, 19.4 at 23:59 CET depending on division. Sign-up period 1: 23.3-7.4, applies to ECL Elite ECL Pro ECL Lite ECL Pro Qualifier ECL Lite Qualifier Sign-up period 2: 23.3-19.4, applies to ECL Core ECL Neo Divisions framework The divisions framework for the ECL 12 will follow the same logic as for previous seasons with the addition of Core in between the Neo and Lite divisions. We will have a total of five divisions with the following team allocation: Elite 16 teams, Pro 32 teams, Lite 64 teams, Core 128 teams and Neo 32+ teams. ECL Elite: 16 teams Sign up: ECL Elite eligible teams Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Wednesday Thursday Prize pool: TBA ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Open spots will be decided based on Qualifiers Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Tuesday Thursday ECL Lite: 64 teams Sign up: ECL Lite eligible teams Open spots will be decided based on the Qualifiers Regular season: 4 Groups of 16 teams Playoffs: 32 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Wednesday Sunday ECL Core: 128 teams Sign up: Without restrictions (but capped at 128) Regular season: 8 groups of 16 Playoffs: TBD Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Thursday Sunday ECL Neo: 32+ teams Sign up: Without restrictions Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-5 Gamedays: Wednesday Sunday Preliminary schedule for the ECL 12 season: ECL Pro & ECL Lite Qualifiers 12.4-29.4 Regular season kick-off ECL Neo 25.4 ECL Core 2.5 ECL Lite 9.5 ECL Pro 20.5 ECL Elite 24.5 Playoffs ECL Neo 30.5-4.7. ECL Core 6.6-16.7 ECL Lite 13.6-18.7 ECL Pro 28.6-28.7 ECL Elite 5.7-31.7. What is the ECL? The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports. The abbreviation stands for the European Championship League and it features NHL 6v6 esports in four divisions aimed at various skill levels. League games are played in the EASHL mode and the platform is PlayStation. Basic information/requirements of ECL: Regional restrictions: ECL is a European tournament format, however, we do not necessarily exclude North American or Russian players. A European server will always be used. In case of severe connection issues, we reserve the right to exclude teams or players. 6v6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL Challenge Club game mode in NHL 21. Individual requirements: Each player needs to have an account at NHLGamer.com and create their personal player card. Roster requirements: Teams in ECL Elite need to have at least 7 players to sign up. Teams in ECL Pro, ECL Lite, ECL Core and ECL Neo need to have at least 8 players to sign up. The roster cap is 14 players. ECL Elite license: Teams in ECL Elite will be required to pay for an ECL Elite license in order to play (more details to follow). Rules: The ECL 12 ruleset will follow the same foundation as in season 11. The updated rulebook will be available before the season. *If you're an existing team that wants to change names, simply sign up with the old name and contact support for the name change. If you're having issues with signing up overall, please contact support. Don't have a team yet? Team looking for additions to your roster? If you are a free agent looking to be picked up, please head over here. If you are representing a team looking for players, please head over here. Did your team sign with an organization that is represented in the game and needs in-game unlocks? Fill in this form. (Only if your organization has unlockables available in NHL 21)

Hello NHLGamers, This article will be a bit detail-heavy and if you're new to the ECL this article will most likely not answer all of your questions. The intention of this article is to bring clarity to the upcoming ECL 12 season; When will it be played? When can I sign up? Who is qualified for what level? Due to the introduction of our new Core division and the restructuring of other divisions coming with that this season, we are now launching signups exceptionally early in order to ensure proper time for qualifiers that need to take place before the regular season starts. That is also why the signups will be concluded in two various groups, as instructed below: Sign-up period 1: 23.3-7.4, applies to ECL Elite ECL Pro ECL Lite ECL Pro Qualifier ECL Lite Qualifier Sign-up period 2: 23.3-19.4, applies to ECL Core ECL Neo When the signup window for ECL Elite, Pro, Lite and the Qualifiers has shut, we will be ready to start the preseason qualifiers in order to determine who will land at which level and to ensure the maximum competitiveness of each division. Here's a layout of the season schedule starting with the Qualifiers: ECL Pro & ECL Lite Qualifiers 14.4-29.4 Regular Season Kick-Off Dates: ECL Neo 25.4 ECL Core 2.5 ECL Lite 9.5 ECL Pro 20.5 ECL Elite 24.5 Playoff Dates: ECL Neo 30.5-4.7. ECL Core 6.6-16.7 ECL Lite 13.6-18.7 ECL Pro 28.6-28.7 ECL Elite 5.7-31.7. All dates are preliminary, but according to current plans. We realize that a lot of the season will be played during the beautiful summer months, so we ask that teams take this into account and make sure there are enough players on the roster to complete the season successfully. There will be a midsummer break from June 24th to the 27th during which no games will be scheduled. In ECL 12, Neo will continue acting as the entry level into competitive virtual hockey and with that, will continue at the pace of two gamedays each week. Our other divisions will run at the pace of three weekly gamedays with Elite also hosting three broadcasts weekly. Gamedays: ECL Neo Wednesday Sunday ECL Core Tuesday Thursday Sunday ECL Lite Tuesday Wednesday Sunday ECL Pro Monday Tuesday Thursday ECL Elite Monday Wednesday Thursday ECL 12 divisions framework: ECL Elite: 16 teams Sign up: ECL Elite eligible teams Regular season: One group Playoffs: 8 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Wednesday Thursday Prize pool: TBA ECL Pro: 32 teams Sign up: ECL Pro eligible teams Open spots will be decided based on Qualifiers Regular season: Two groups Playoffs: 16 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Monday Tuesday Thursday ECL Lite: 64 teams Sign up: ECL Lite eligible teams Open spots will be decided based on the Qualifiers Regular season: 4 Groups of 16 teams Playoffs: 32 teams Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Wednesday Sunday ECL Core: 128 teams Sign up: Without restrictions (but capped at 128) Regular season: 8 groups of 16 Playoffs: TBD Best-of-7 Gamedays: Tuesday Thursday Sunday ECL Neo: 32+ teams Sign up: Without restrictions Regular season: TBD Playoffs: TBD Best-of-5 Gamedays: Wednesday Sunday Then, the information you've all been eagerly waiting for - here are the teams that will be eligible for the ECL 12 Pro and Lite Qualifiers: Pro Qualifier teams: Lite Qualifier teams: Note about the ECL 12 Lite Qualification Tournament: During the preparation of the new ECL 12 season, we noticed that the transition qualifier that we previously introduced for the ECL 12 Lite season had a small error. We failed to take the Wildcard teams into consideration in our math for the qualifiers which would have lead to an 68 team Lite division. We will still use the previously announced system we mentioned in our structure article, but we will be making a small adjustment: The playoff line will be moved from above the 7th seed to above the 6th seed. This means that the top 5 teams out of each qualifying group has a chance to continue to play for the ECL Lite promotion, while the 6th-8th ranked teams in each group will solidify their spot in the Core division. We apologize for the miscalculation while creating the new system, but we still believe that having a chance to fight for the ECL Lite promotion as a 5th ranked team in your individual group still gives you a very fair chance to make it. Below you'll find an updated image of the ECL 12 Lite Qualification tournament. We have also updated the original news story with the corrected information. Gauging interest for an ECL Warm-up tournament Due to the combination of sign-ups, qualifiers and the staggered start of the different divisions, some teams might find themselves waiting for the season start longer than they would want. This is why we are gauging the interest towards a short ECL Warm-up tournament where teams get their chance to get some games in as they prepare for the upcoming season. If you think this would be something your team would be interested in - please leave a comment below! Edit: Due to technical reasons, the sign-up start has been moved to March 23rd. Edit 2: The order of the Pro Qualifier teams has been fixed for clarity on the seeding order, as per the original Division and Promotion Structure documentation.