ECL ’26 Winter – Regular Season End, Transfer Deadline & Holiday Break

Hi SportsGamers,

There have been some questions regarding the Regular Season dates, the Transfer Deadline, and the Holiday Break, so we want to clarify all of these topics in one place.

Regular Season End - January 15th

The regular season is set to end on January 15th, 2026, in all divisions.

We understand that this may feel a little extra relaxed for the Core and Lite divisions, where the most active teams will potentially have finished their games already by Christmas, but we communicated the deadline early on, and we therefore do not want to change it, as some teams seem to have made their plans based on it.

Be sure to reschedule any games necessary with your opponents in good time and enjoy the holidays!

Transfer Deadline - January 4th, restrictions apply

The transfer deadline is January 4th, 2026; however, please note that no team can make transfers in either direction once they have completed their regular season.

All transfers, however, are subject to scrutiny by the League Administration. Therefore, transfers can be declined retroactively if deemed to have been illegal, potentially resulting in games played being nullified. 

Holiday Break

The Holiday Break is planned for December 19th to January 3rd.

Teams are allowed to play during this time if they mutually agree to do so; however, no team can be forced to play during this time period.

ECL Lite & Core Playoff system

To avoid any confusion, we want to mention that the Lite and Core playoff system for this season will be as follows:

A total of 24 teams will go to the playoffs in each division. The top 2 of each group go directly to the 2nd round of the Playoffs. Teams placing 3–6 will be seeded into the first round, meaning #9 vs #24, #10 vs #23, and so on.

As always, thank you for your cooperation and for helping keep the season running smoothly. We wish everyone a great end to the regular season and a relaxing holiday break.