The wait is over — it’s time to kick off the NHL 26 season with the ECL ‘26 Pre-Season Tournament.

This friendly event gives teams the chance to warm up for the upcoming ECL season in a relaxed and flexible setting. With three competitive tiers, there’s something for everyone — from top contenders fine-tuning their play to new teams getting their first taste of ECL action. Each tier features its own playoffs, offering every team a chance to compete, improve, and prepare for the season ahead.

Get your lineups ready and hit the ice — the ECL ‘26 Pre-Season starts now.

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

ECL Pre-Season

As stated, the tournament will be hosted in three tiers without any major restrictions except for the ones mentioned below.

Elite & Pro  

• 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)
• The final format is determined by the number of teams
• Double-header gamedays
• Regular season 30.10-9.11
• Playoffs (BO3)
  • 12-13.11 (RO16)
  • 16.-17.11 (Quarterfinals)
  • 19.-20.11 (Semifinals)
  • 24-25.11 (Finals)

👉 Note: This Pre-Season will overlap with the ECL Winter Qualifiers. If you know or expect to participate in the Elite or Pro Qualifiers, you should skip the Pre-Season to avoid schedule conflicts.

Sign-ups are open until 12:00 CET, October 28th.

SIGN UP HERE

Lite & Core 

• 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)
• Qualifier teams can participate, but the final rounds of the playoffs may coincide with the qualifiers
• The final format is determined by the number of teams
• Double-header gamedays
• Regular season 30.10-9.11
• Playoffs (BO3)
  • 12-23.11 (RO32)
  • 16.-27.11 (RO16)
  • 19.-30.11 (Quarterfinals)
  • 24-25.11 (Semifinals)
  • 27.11 (Finals)

Sign-ups are open until 12:00 CET, October 28th.

SIGN UP HERE

Neo & Newcomers 

• Only ECL Neo & Newcomer teams
• This is a friendly warmup tournament, no need to argue (=no League Admin cases)
• The final format is determined by the number of teams
• Double-header gamedays
• Regular season 30.10-9.11
• Playoffs (BO3)
  • 12-13.11 (RO16)
  • 16.-17.11 (Quarterfinals)
  • 19.-20.11 (Semifinals)
  • 24-25.11 (Finals)

Sign-ups are open until 12:00 CET, October 28th.

SIGN UP HERE

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!