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SportsGamers, With the new iteration of EA Sports NHL having dropped a couple weeks back, the time is right for us to launch registrations for the biggest and best league around. Another massive competitive season will kick off with the ECL '24 Winter season, starting officially on November 1st with the Lite & Pro Qualifiers. Whether you are an experienced gamer looking to take the next step, or are just starting out your career, one of our five divisions will be sure to offer you a challenge suitable for your skill level. After the intense fights we saw go down at the finish lines of all five divisions last season, the ECL '24 Winter season will have lots to live up to, but with the skill level constantly increasing and the superstar talent across the league intent on bringing their top game on a nightly basis, we're confident that this will be an even better year! The total prize pool of the ECL '24 Winter season will be 23 420 EUR. If you're itching to get things started already, remember to sign up for the ECL '24 Pre-season tournament here! Signups will close at 12:00 CEST, on October 19th, 2023. <- TOMORROW! ⚠️ 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, so the upcoming season is already the 17th. The latest addition to the ECL product family is a 1v1 tournament, where Europe's best solo players fight for the championship. ECL 1v1 has been played since the ECL '23 Winter season. Basic information/requirements of ECL: 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. Platform: PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S 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 ‘24 Winter team licenses in order to play. In addition, every player in the above-mentioned divisions needs to have a valid ECL ‘24 Winter Player License before taking the ice. Purchase your license in the Store. Rules: The ECL '24 rulebook will be published closer to the season, but you can check out last season's rules here. For a more extensive overview of the ECL as a whole, check out our “What is the ECL?” news story released a few weeks back. For a thorough look at the entire competitive year and event calendar, please refer to our ECL '24 Season Presentation. Wildcard teams: 18.-30.10.2023 ECL Lite Qualifier: 18.-30.10.2023 ECL Pro Qualifier: 18.-30.10.2023 ECL Neo: 18.10.-15.11.2023 ⚠️ ECL Core: 18.10.-15.11.2023 ⚠️ ECL Lite: 18.10.-6.11.2023 ECL Pro: 18.10.-6.11.2023 ECL Elite: 18.10.-6.11.2023 *Signups will close at 23:59 CET on the last day mentioned unless otherwise specified. Schedule Pre-season tournament: 23.10.-6.11.2023 Qualifiers: 1.11-> (Pro, Lite) 7.11-> (Elite) Regular Season duration: 19.11.-21.12.2023 (Neo, Core, Lite) 20.11.-21.12.2023 (Pro, Elite) PLEASE NOTE: ECL '24 WINTER 1V1 SIGNUPS WILL LAUNCH LATER THIS YEAR Rule Changes & Community Opinion Reminder: We would like to raise two items up for a community vote and open up the floor for discussion. So far the topics have not attracted a lot of conversation, but there's still time to make your voices heard. The 3-point system vs 2-point system For the longest time, the ECL has used the 2-point system, where the winner gets 2 points, whether in regular time or overtime, and 1 point for a loss in overtime. We’ve heard some wishes for a change and the time has come to re-evaluate whether we should instead opt for the 3-point system instead. In the past, the polls have been pretty close to 50/50 on this topic, but it’s time to discuss this topic properly and if the discussion suggests a need for a poll, that can be implemented. You can already discuss the point-system here. Zone & Superstar Abilities - Yay or nay? For the ECL ‘23: Spring season we made the decision to ban a selection of Zone & Superstar Abilities. As NHL 24 is a new release, our initial instinct is to start with a clean slate and not ban any abilities until the community gets to know the new game and has a chance to make up its mind about whether the abilities are working or not. While we have preliminarily set our minds on not banning any abilities for the first season, we welcome the discussion and would love to hear your opinion. You can discuss player abilities here. Are there some rule-related changes we’ve missed? Now is your chance to discuss and suggest what type of changes you would like to see in the rulebook. 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.

We have discovered a game-breaking bug in NHL 24 that seems to be caused by taking a timeout during a 'full pressure' situation. While this should reverse the pressure and re-energize the players, the negative effect from the previously active 'full pressure' situation seems to stay active and drain the affected players as a result, even though there is no visual representation of this. As of today, taking a timeout in all ECL matches is forbidden, however, if a timeout is taken and the bug occurs the match must be stopped immediately and restarted at the moment the timeout is taken. Please see the the rule below: How to proceed if a bug occurs: Disconnect from the game The remaining time in the game will be played in a new game. Teams are advised to wait for the clock to run down to the time when the timeout was taken and complete it regularly. Alternatively, they can also use a different procedure of their own if both parties agree (providing the start point is at, or before, the time in which the timeout took place). For instructions on how to report a disconnected game, please refer to our article 'How to report disconnected games' If despite the rule a timeout is taken and the bug does not appear The match can be played to the end The result of the match remains The case must be reported to the LA and the team that took the timeout will receive a warning. If the same behavior continues, it may result in an automatic forfeit of the match.   We have shared the details and videos provided by the community to the development team at EA SPORTS and we are optimistic that they will be able to patch this, at which point the rule will be removed.   You can find the updated rulebook here, although it may take some time for the cache to update for you to load the new one if you viewed the first version before.