ECL '23 Winter - Qualifiers Info

SportsGamers,

Before we get underway with the main part of the season, we have some qualifying ahead of us and with that, let's get right to it with the info to follow below:

Firstly, ECL '23 Winter Pro and Lite Qualifiers will start officially on Thursday, November 24th.

The Qualifiers will be completed at an intensive pace and here are the schedules for the respective Qualifiers:

• Pro Qualifiers:
  • Round 1: Thursday 24.11., Sunday 27.11., Monday 28.11., Tuesday 29.11.
  • Round 2: Thursday 1.12., Sunday 4.12., Monday 5.12.
  • BO5 series (where needed*): Wednesday 7.12.
• Lite Qualifiers:
  • Group Play: Thursday 24.11., Sunday 27.11., Monday 28.11., Tuesday 29.11., Wednesday 30.11., Thursday 1.12.
  • BO3 series (where needed*): Sunday 4.12., Monday 5.12., Tuesday 6.12., Wednesday 7.12., Thursday 8.12.

* The final number of open spots will be determined on 30.11. by 23.59 CET when registrations close for Elite, Pro and Lite series levels.

In our Lite & Pro Qualifier registrations article, we stated the following logic as a basis of filling potential open spots in divisions and Qualifiers:

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• Teams will not be promoted directly and all open spots will be filled through qualifiers (excluding automatically relegated/promoted teams). If there happens to be more open spots than anticipated (e.g. from teams disbanding which would have been invited to play in the qualifier) spots are filled as follows:
  • Pro Qualifiers
    • Pro relegated teams
    • Lite #10-16
    • Wildcard teams #5-8
    • Lite #17-32
    • Core #5-8 

Based on that logic, to fill the available spots after sign-ups, the following ECL '22 Spring teams have gained the right to participate in the Pro Qualifier:

• Company of Geeks
• Venom (HC SHH)
• Sodertalje SK
• Six Sticks Misfits (Linköping HC)
• Ace Hockey
• Lemmenvelhot
• TTK
• RoKi Esports
• PunaKala

Due to us having only one Pro Wildcard applicants fulfilling the requirements for a Pro Qualifier Wildcard spot, The Wildcard Battle was not played this season.

Below is the Wildcard team:

• Örebro Hockey

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 ECL Pro Qualifier Teams

1. Hawaii Hockey
2. Djurgården Hockey
3. Leksands IF Esport (Prima eSport)
4. Mora IK
5. Memento (Spirit)
6. Lulea Hockey academy (Tadpole)
7. Bastu
8. Arkham Asylum
9. Team NGU
10. Frolunda HC Academy (Frolunda HC Region)
11. Orebro Hockey
12. Company of Geeks
13. Venom
14. Sodertalje SK
15. Six Sticks Misfits
16. Ace Hockey
17. Lemmenvelhot
18. TTK
19. RoKi Esports
20. PunaKala

The Expansion of the ECL '23 Lite Qualifiers will come into effect immediately. Here, we'll be increasing the Qualifier size to a total of 64 teams, consisting of 15 Lite teams, 28 Core teams and 4 Neo teams from the previous season. The remaining 17 spots in the qualifiers will be filled by Wildcard teams, and these Wildcard spots will be open for application to every team without restrictions. Wildcard spots will be filled in order of registration. In the case of eligible teams not signing up, the amount of Wildcard spots will automatically increase.

Teams that applied for an ECL '23 Winter Lite Wildcard spot:

• Alliance HT
• Bad to the Bone
• BIG Mistake
• Chiefzz HC
• Davemiehet
• Golden Sticks
• Gunners HC
• HC VADELMA
• Karmadillos
• Lions Academy
• Lulea Hockey Region
• Nurnberg IceTigers eSport
• Prestige
• Skelleftea AIK
• Sunne IK Esport
• Timra IK Esport
• TROJANS
• Unique
• xBOTS backup

 Lite Qualifier teams:

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 ECL Lite Qualifier Teams

1. SCB eSports
2. HC Lugano eSports (EiSKALATiON)
3. United Front
4. Lutunilkat
5. Remparts de Tours eSport
6. Herforder Ice Dragons
7. Turkunummi
8. Wildcats esport (EPINAL HC ESPORT)
9. KH Torun Esports
10. Gleumes Hockey Krefeld
11. Finnish Hockey Legends
12. DEG eSports
13. Blessed Suedis (UnderRated)
14. Shameful Knights
15. Nordic Nosebleed
16. Saucer Hockey
17. Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming (Eisbaeren Lauf)
18. Ghost (HC Ghost)
19. Woodhands (Woodhands HC)
20. Gunners HC
21. Unique
22. Karmadillos
23. Lions Academy
24. Lulea Hockey Region
25. Nurnberg IceTigers eSport
26. BIG Mistake
27. Bad to the Bone
28. Alliance HT
29. Timra IK Esport
30. HC VADELMA
31. Davemiehet
32. Skelleftea AIK
33. Chiefzz HC
34. Golden Sticks
35. Prestige
36. xBOTS backup
37. Sunne IK Esport
38. TROJANS

The Lite Qualifier teams will be played in two stages, here is a breakdown of the structure:

1. Six groups, six or seven teams - the Top 3 out of each group will gain direct promotion to Lite
2. The remaining teams will clash for best-of-three series to determine the who will gain spots in the Lite division. The exact format will be determined later.

Reminder about licenses

The team participating in the qualifiers must have at least six players who have purchased a player license. Each team can get up to 3 free backup player licenses (outside of the primary 6) that can help the team out and play up to 10 games without having to buy the player license (more detailed info coming soon). The ECL ‘23 Player License can be purchased during the season if a backup wants to play more games than expected.

The team license will be issued after the season's league spot has been decided in the qualifiers.

Special rules for Qualifier teams

• To prevent teams from taking advantage, specifically recruiting players to bolster your chances in the qualifier that have no intention of remaining in the team beyond that, we have decided to enforce a soft roster lock post qualifier play.
  • If a former Elite player wants to participate in a qualifier for a Wildcard, Pro or Lite team, then they will be locked into that division at where the team ends up throughout the season
    • Transfer to a lower division is possible
  • If a former Pro player wants to participate in a qualifier for a wildcard, Pro or Lite team, then they will be locked into that division at where the team ends up for 2 weeks (starting from the first game played in Pro that season)
    • Transfer to a lower division is possible
• Lite & Pro Qualifiers are part of the ECL '23 Winter season
  • Only one transfer is allowed during the season
  • The backup player's free games decrease when playing qualifiers

Otherwise, the ECL '22 Spring rulebook will be used in the qualifiers.

We wish all participating good luck in the Qualifiers, play hard, play fair and most importantly have fun!