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SportsGamers, This news story is intended to help understand the ECL Ranking for teams at the end of the ECL '24 Winter season. This ranking determines the eligibility for teams entering various divisions this upcoming ECL '24: Spring season.  Below you will find a list of teams that have secured a division spot at the Elite, Pro, or Lite league level. If you didn't find your team on the list, don't worry! You can apply for a wildcard spot for your team in the Pro qualifiers or participate in the Lite qualifiers, which are open to everyone. Elite 1 Elite 🏆 hREDS 2 Elite 🥈 Tunnel Vision 3 Elite 3 Straikers 4 Elite 4 Vesa Pompa 5 Elite 5 JYP Jyväskylä 6 Elite 6 Radical 7 Elite 7 Unwanted 8 Elite 8 The Black Jacks 9 Elite 9 Mayhems 10 Elite 10 Polski Boys 11 Elite 11 Heimo 12 Elite 12 GOONS 13 ▶ Elite 13 Falun Coal Miners 14 ▶ Elite 15 Roots Gaming 15 ▲ Pro 🥇 Gotham Knights 16 ▲ Pro 3 Purification Elite Qualifiers (if needed) 1 ▼ Elite 14 POGGERS 2 ▼ Elite 16 Lekstugan HC 3 ▶ Pro 🥈 Renascor 4 ▶ Pro 4 GIFU Hockey 5 Pro 5 Opera Hockey 6 Pro 6 Mustaa Kultaa 7 Pro 7 Bjorkloven Esport 8 Pro 8 Herlev Eagles Pro 1 ▼ Elite 14 POGGERS 2 ▼ Elite 16 Lekstugan HC 3 ▶ Pro 🥈 Renascor 4 ▶ Pro 4 GIFU Hockey 5 Pro 5 Opera Hockey 6 Pro 6 Mustaa Kultaa 7 Pro 7 Bjorkloven Esport 8 Pro 8 Herlev Eagles 9 Pro 9 RCTIC 10 Pro 10 Kallion Dynamo 11 Pro 11 Nurnberg IceTigers eSport 12 Pro 12 Supernatural 13 Pro 13 Vizio 14 Pro 14 Gunners HC 15 Pro 15 N0VA 16 Pro 16 Valco 17 Pro 17 Deadly Phantoms 18 Pro 18 HC Lugano eSports 19 Pro 19 Södertälje SK 20 Pro 20 Hawaii Hockey 21 Pro 21 Cheeky Grinders 22 Pro 22 IK Oskarshamn 23 ▲ Lite 🥇 Bone Breakers 24 ▲ Lite 🥈 HEXA eSports 25 ▲ Lite 🥉 Almost Famous As a small amendment to the ECL '24: Winter rules, we have decided to increase the number of Pro Qualifier teams from twenty to twenty-four. The intention has been to make the rule clearer and to ensure that every team that qualifies for the Quarterfinal round of the Lite is on equal footing. In addition, a fifth wildcard spot has been added to even out the number of teams. Pro Qualifiers 1 Pro 23 Hokurit 2 Pro 24 Ultimatum 3 Pro 25 Sawolanche 4 Pro 26 PunaKala 5 Pro 27 Golden Sticks 6 Pro 28 Athletic Bulls 7 Lite 4 Neptune Hockey 8 Lite 5 Invasion 9 Lite 6 Pasilan SKA 10 Lite 7 HC VADELMA 11 Lite 8 Finnish Roosters 12 Lite 9 Toxic City 13 Lite 10 Six Sticks Misfits 14 Lite 11 Pata Hellalla 15 Lite 12 Technical Disaster 16 Lite 13 NOSTREETSPORTS 17 Lite 14 Mora IK 18 Lite 15 Shameful Knights 19 Lite 16 ACEsquad 20 Wildcard   21 Wildcard   22 Wildcard   23 Wildcard   24 Wildcard   Pro Qualifier Wildcard requirements Three former Elite starters or four former Pro starters A starter is defined as having played 16 or more games in the ECL '24 Winter season, or 20 or more games in the ECL '23 Spring season If there are more players from the same team that were relegated out of the division Pro (in the same season) in the team applying for a wildcard, they may be counted as one player. The League Administration reserves the right to interpretations of this depending on the specific circumstances of the situation. What if all Pro Qualifier positions are not filled? Teams will not be promoted straight 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 relegated teams Wildcard teams Lite #17-32 Lite 1 ▼ Pro 29 Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming 2 ▼ Pro 30 xBOTS 3 ▼ Pro 31 Red Bull Munich eSports 4 Lite 17 Rocking Bears 5 Lite 18 Ismon Valinta 6 Lite 19 Sunne IK Esport 7 Lite 20 Niederrhein Canucks 8 Lite 21 Bustdown Rollie Avalanche 9 Lite 22 Ghost 10 Lite 23 Nelos kentta 11 Lite 24 Carolus Icemen 12 Lite 25 A Laget 13 Lite 26 Trojans 14 Lite 27 Swedish Stars 15 Lite 28 Including Me 16 Lite 29 Hannover Indians eSports 17 Lite 30 Niitti Pohjassa 18 Lite 31 Armada Hockey 19 Lite 32 Bad to the Bone 20 Lite 33 Black Sharks 21 Lite 34 Seinajoki Noms 22 Lite 35 Carpe Diem 23 Lite 36 SCB eSports 24 Lite 37 HC KOROBKA 25 Lite 38 Chiefzz HC 26 Lite 39 Black Hurricanes 27 Lite 40 Taisto 28 Lite 41 Ice Scream 29 Lite 42 BK Skinnarna 30 Lite 43 Northern Dust 31 Lite 44 EHC Olten eSports 32 Lite 45 Woodhands 33 Lite 46 DEG eSports 34 Lite 47 Company of Geeks 35 Lite 48 German Ice Gladiators 36 Lite 49 Rahinage 37 Lite 50 Dompa HC 38 Lite 51 Dark Energy HC 39 Lite 52 Deggendorfer SC Esports 40 ▲ Core🥇 Belissimo 41 ▲ Core 🥈 SACK BROTHERS 42 ▲ Core 🥉 BushWhackers All teams without an Elite, Pro, or Lite league spot can participate in the Lite Qualifiers without restrictions. The format of the qualifiers will be decided according to the number of participants, but a maximum of 64 teams can participate in the qualifiers. Spots will be filled in the order of registration, but the teams on the list below will have priority if the number of teams is full. Lite Qualifiers 1 Core 4 Mights 2 Core 5 HC Gaming 3 Core 6 MoDo Hockey 4 Core 7 Aspyre Dragons 5 Core 8 Viitapohjan Viikingit 6 Core 9 Silver Sword Griffins 7 Core 10 Fiilis Hockey 8 Core 11 Gleumes Hockey Krefeld 9 Core 12 United Front 10 Core 13 Lutunilkat 11 Core 14 NAM3LESS 12 Core 15 Rusty Bulls 13 Core 16 Jurvan Liekki

SportsGamers, It's time for the Quarterfinal stage of the ECL '24: Winter - Pro Playoffs. We are down to the 8 best teams of ECL Pro and the battle for a promotion to ECL Elite and a chance to be the Pro Division Champions is getting intense! Schedule Playoffs (BO7) Round of 16: 4.-9.1. Quarterfinals: 11.-16.1. Semifinals: 18.-23.1. Finals: 25.-29.1. * Promotion Battles: 1.-7.2. * Dates are subject to change as broadcast productions are confirmed.   Quarterfinal matchups  Gotham Knights (1) vs  Herlev Eagles (11)   Purification (2) vs  Björklöven Esport (8)  Opera Hockey (3) vs  GIFU Hockey (7)  Renascor (4) vs  Mustaa Kultaa (5)     ECL '24: Winter - Pro Prize Pool:   Follow the Playoff streams: SportsGamer will be covering the ECL Pro Playoffs with one broadcast per week. Please follow our Twitch channel and socials for more details. Please post dates, times, and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams.   Social media: Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi   We wish all teams the best of luck!   PS: We are looking for writers: If you are interested in contributing to making the ECL coverage better, please get in touch with @Kenu.

SportsGamers, We are in the second round of the ECL '24: Winter - Lite Playoffs, which means 16 teams are remaining in the ECL Lite battle for promotion to ECL Pro and a chance to be the Lite Division Champions!   Schedule You can find the schedule for the remainder of the season below. We have received multiple requests for an extra gameday this week and have decided to accept teams playing on January 15th, with the requirement of teams reporting their results immediately after finishing their games so we can generate the next round for the quarterfinal round. The updated dates are reflected below. Playoffs (BO7) Round of 32: 2.-7.1. Round of 16: 9.-15.1. Quarterfinals: 16.-21.1. Semifinals: 23.-28.1. Finals: 4.-5.2. * * Dates are subject to change as broadcast productions are confirmed.   Round of 16 matchups  Invasion (1) vs ACEsquad (20)   Bone Breakers (2) vs Shameful Knights (17)   HEXA eSports (3) vs  Mora IK (15)  Neptune Hockey (4) vs  NOSTREETSPORTS (14)  Toxic City (5) vs Almost Famous (12)  Six Sticks Misfits (6) vs  Finnish Roosters (11)  Pasilan SKA (7) vs  Technical Disaster (10)  Pata Hellalla (8) vs  HC VADELMA (9)     ECL '24: Winter - Lite Prize Pool:   Follow the Playoff streams: Please post dates, times, and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams.   Social media: Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi   We wish all teams the best of luck!   PS: We are looking for writers: If you are interested in contributing to making the ECL coverage better, please get in touch with @Kenu.

SportsGamers, It's time for the ECL '24: Winter - Core Playoffs, where the TOP 16 teams of ECL Core battle for promotion to ECL Lite and a chance to be the Core Division Champions! Schedule You can find the schedule for the remainder of the season below. We have received multiple requests for an extra gameday this week and have decided to accept teams playing on January 15th, with the requirement of teams reporting their results immediately after finishing their games so we can generate the next round for the quarterfinal round. The updated dates are reflected below. Playoffs (BO7) Round of 32: 2.-7.1. Round of 16: 9.-15.1. ⚠️ Quarterfinals: 16.-21.1. Semifinals: 23.-28.1. Finals: 31.1.-1.2. * * Dates are subject to change as broadcast productions are confirmed. Round of 16 matchups: Silver Sword Griffins (1) vs Viitapohjan Viikingit (23) SACK BROTHERS (2) vs Jurvan Liekki (20) Fiilis Hockey (3) vs Aspyre Dragons (19) Gleumes Hockey Krefeld (4) vs MoDo Hockey (16) United Front (5) vs HC Gaming (15) Lutunilkat (6) vs BushWhackers (12) Mights (7) vs Rusty Bulls (11) NAM3LESS (8) vs Belissimo (9) ECL '24: Winter - Core Prize Pool: Follow the Playoff streams: Please post dates, times, and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams. Social media: Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible: @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible: @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi We wish all teams the best of luck! PS: We are looking for writers: If you are interested in contributing to making the ECL coverage better, please get in touch with @Kenu.

SportsGamers, It's time for round 2 of the ECL '24: Winter - Neo Playoffs, where the remaining TOP 16 teams of ECL Neo battle for their chance to make the TOP 8 and eventually for the Neo Championship!   Schedule You can find the schedule for the remainder of the season below. Due to requests and the fact that we have left some days between the rounds, we have decided to add one extra day at the end of each playoff round (not Finals) to give the teams a bit more flexibility to play their series'. The updated dates are reflected below. Playoffs (BO5) Round of 32: 4.-8.1. Round of 16: 11.-16.1. ⚠️ Quarterfinals: 18.-23.1.  ⚠️ Semifinals: 25.-30.1.  ⚠️ Finals: 1.-4.2.   Round of 16 matchups:  Hc Ohiveto  (1) vs Oljefondet  (28)   Urban Evasion   (2) vs Troillan Esport (24)   Old Hogs  (3) vs Jaskan Sählykerho (20)   Russian Lightning (4) vs Dirty Rabbits (18)   KOST Wolves (6) vs  Nurnberg Nidhoggr (16)  Torspot (7) vs  IceVikings (14)  Turun Gasellit (8) vs  HC Wild Hogs (12)  CZ JDOUCI NA SMRT SK (10) vs  Overping Threshers (11)   Follow the Playoff streams: Please post dates, times and links for streams in the comments of this news story and social media, to help everyone find your team streams.   Social media: Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtags when possible:  @SportsGamerGG #ECL24Winter #eHockey #NHL24 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi   We wish all teams the best of luck!   PS: We are looking for writers: If you are interested in contributing to making the ECL coverage better, please get in touch with @Kenu.

SportsGamers, This news story is for you to understand the ECL Ranking for teams at the end of the ECL '23 Spring season. That means that this ranking determines the eligibility for teams entering various divisions this upcoming ECL '24 Winter season. Below you will find a list of teams that have secured a division spot at the Elite, Pro or Lite league level. If you didn't find your team on the list, don't worry! You can apply for a wildcard spot for your team in the Pro qualifiers or participate in the Lite qualifiers, which are open to everyone. Elite 1 Elite 🏆 Tunnel Vision 2 Elite 🥈 Frölunda HC 3 Elite 3 hREDS 4 Elite 4 Färjestad BK 5 Elite 5 JYP Jyväskylä 6 Elite 6 Redhawks Esport 7 Elite 7 Mayhems 8 Elite 8 Leksands IF 9 Elite 9 Heimo 10 Elite 10 Nordic Stars 11 Elite 11 Roots Gaming 12 Elite 12 GOONS 13 Elite 13 Tohtorit 14 Elite 14 ZSC Esports 15 Elite 15 Reality Check HC 16 ▲ Pro 🥇 Polski Boys Pro 1 Elite 16 ▼ Örebro Hockey 2 Pro 🥈 Golden Nights 3 Pro 3 Luleå Hockey 4 Pro 4 Deadly Phantoms 5 Pro 5 Purification 6 Pro 6 HV71 7 Pro 7 RCTIC 8 Pro 8 Renascor 9 Pro 9 Pirati Chomutov Esports 10 Pro 10 OTUKSET 11 Pro 11 Gunners HC 12 Pro 12 Prestige 13 Pro 13 IK Oskarshamn 14 Pro 14 Be a Bro 15 Pro 15 SIKA 16 Pro 16 Valco 17 Pro 17 Hawaii Hockey 18 Pro 18 Project X 19 Pro 19 Bjorkloven Esport 20 Pro 20 Brynäs IF 21 Pro 21 Exerceo 22 Pro 22 N0VA 23 ▲ Lite 🥇 Mustaa Kultaa 24 ▲ Lite 🥈 Supernatural 25 ▲ Lite 🥉 Boost HC 26 Pro Qualifiers 1 27 Pro Qualifiers 2 28 Pro Qualifiers 3 29 Pro Qualifiers 4 30 Pro Qualifiers 5 31 Pro Qualifiers 6 32 Pro Qualifiers 7 Pro Qualifier Wildcard requirements Three former Elite starters or four former Pro starters A starter is defined as having played 16 or more games in the ECL '23 Spring season, or 20 or more games in the ECL '23 Winter season If there are more players from the same team that relegated out of the Pro (in the same season) in the team applying for a wildcard, they will be counted as one player What if all Pro Qualifier positions are not filled? Teams will not be promoted straight 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 relegated teams Lite #14-16 Wildcard teams #5-8 Lite #17-32 Pro Qualifiers 1 Pro 23 Bastu 2 Pro 24 Herlev Eagles 3 Pro 25 GIFU Hockey 4 Pro 26 Vizio 5 Pro 27 Arkham Asylum 6 Pro 28 Venom 7 Lite 4 PunaKala 8 Lite 5 Cheeky Grinders 9 Lite 6 Predators 10 Lite 7 HC Lugano eSports 11 Lite 8 Ultimatum 12 Lite 9 Nurnberg IceTigers eSport 13 Lite 10 Sawolanche 14 Lite 11 Skelleftea AIK 15 Lite 12 Sunne IK Esport 16 Lite 13 Nappula 17 Wildcard 1 18 Wildcard 2 19 Wildcard 3 20 Wildcard 4 Lite 1 Pro 29 ▼ Djurgården Hockey 2 Pro 30 ▼ Neptune Hockey 3 Pro 31 ▼ Eisbaeren Lauf Gaming 4 Pro 32 ▼ Red Bull Munich eSports 5 Lite 14 Frolunda HC Academy 6 Lite 15 Sodertalje SK 7 Lite 16 Golden Sticks 8 Lite 17 Technical Disaster 9 Lite 18 Hannover Indians eSports 10 Lite 19 Armada Hockey 11 Lite 20 Hc Replay 12 Lite 21 xBOTS 13 Lite 22 NOSTREETSPORTS 14 Lite 23 Duesseldorfer EG eSports 15 Lite 24 Lions Academy 16 Lite 25 Shameful Knights 17 Lite 26 Dark Wild 18 Lite 27 SCB eSports 19 Lite 28 Tupsukorvat 20 Lite 29 Chiefzz HC 21 Lite 30 HC VADELMA 22 Lite 31 RoKi Esports 23 Lite 32 Deggendorfer SC Esports 24 Lite 33 Stadin Kingit 25 Lite 34 Fiilis Hockey 26 Lite 35 Canucks Hockey 27 Lite 36 Woodhands 28 Lite 37 EHC Dinamo Riga 29 Lite 38 Mora IK 30 Lite 39 Rahinage 31 Lite 40 Timrå IK Esport 32 Lite 41 Black Hurricanes 33 Lite 42 Western Express 34 Lite 43 Including Me 35 Lite 44 HC JEUSSEN 36 Lite 45 Seinajoki Noms 37 Lite 46 Blessed Suedis 38 Lite 47 Northern Dust 39 Lite 48 HC KOROBKA 40 ▲ Core 🥇 French Eagles 41 ▲ Core 🥈 Ismon Valinta 42 ▲ Core 🥉 Dompa HC 43 Pro Qualifiers 1 44 Pro Qualifiers 2 45 Pro Qualifiers 3 46 Pro Qualifiers 4 47 Pro Qualifiers 5 48 Pro Qualifiers 6 49 Pro Qualifiers 7 50 Pro Qualifiers 8 51 Pro Qualifiers 9 52 Pro Qualifiers 10 53 Pro Qualifiers 11 54 Pro Qualifiers 12 55 Pro Qualifiers 13 56 Lite Qualifiers 1 57 Lite Qualifiers 2 58 Lite Qualifiers 3 59 Lite Qualifiers 4 60 Lite Qualifiers 5 61 Lite Qualifiers 6 62 Lite Qualifiers 7 63 Lite Qualifiers 8 64 Lite Qualifiers 9 All teams without an Elite, Pro or Lite league spot can participate in the Lite qualifiers without restrictions. The format of the qualifiers will be decided according to the number of participants, but a maximum of 64 teams can participate in the qualifiers. Spots will be filled in the order of registration, but the teams on the list below will have priority if the number of teams is full. Lite Qualifiers 1 Lite 49 TROJANS 2 Lite 50 Ghost 3 Lite 51 Saucer Hockey 4 Lite 52 HC Pustertal eSports 5 Lite 53 Ducktales BK 6 Lite 54 Dragons Gaming 7 Lite 55 Swedish Stars 8 Lite 56 EHC Olten eSports 9 Lite 57 Wildcats esport 10 Lite 58 Pirati Chomutov academy 11 Lite 59 Karhukissat 12 Lite 60 Clowns 13 Lite 61 MoDo Hockey 14 Core 4 North Sawo Lions 15 Core 5 Black Sharks 16 Core 6 KohKae Esports 17 Core 7 Tampere Taisto 18 Core 8 EV Duisburg 19 Core 9 Nordic Nosebleed 20 Core 10 Ambri eSports 21 Core 11 Taskubilis 22 Core 12 Lutunilkat 23 Core 13 Koskenlaskijat 24 Core 14 Latvian Warriors 25 Core 15 Nelos kentta 26 Core 16 WarHeads

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: 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         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:   The Lite Qualifier teams will be played in two stages, here is a breakdown of the structure: Six groups, six or seven teams - the Top 3 out of each group will gain direct promotion to Lite 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!

SportsGamers, As we're closing in on the start of a new competitive season, let's take a look back and remind ourselves how the ECL '22 Season finished. Here's the current ECL ranking, showing at which position each team will be entering the ECL '23 Season. Please refer to this article when checking your team's divisional eligibility for ECL '23 Winter. If you haven’t read our general information yet, we suggest you head over to our ECL ’23 Winter information article. Please note that this ranking only includes teams that have secured divisional eligibility by participating in the ECL '22 Spring season. If your team is established after the season, you will need to enter through qualifiers or obtain a divisional spot of a defunct team in a way that complies with the ECL ruleset. Teams are sorted based on Playoff wins, with Playoff seeds being tiebreakers. Elite 1 Elite 🏆 hREDS 2 Elite 🥈 SAWO ESPORTS 3 Elite 🥉 Frölunda HC 4 Elite 4 GOONS 5 Elite 5 HAVU Gaming 6 Elite 6 Örebro Hockey 7 Elite 7 Roots Gaming 8 Elite 8 Conquer Gaming 9 Elite 9 Färjestad BK 10 Elite 10 ZSC Esports 11 Elite 11 JYP Jyvaskyla 12 Elite 12 YMCA Esports 13 Elite 13 ⬌ Falun Coal Miners 14 Pro 🥇 ▲ Vaxjo Lakers 15 Pro 🥈 ▲ Reality Check 16 Pro 🥉 ▲ AHJO Pro 1 Elite 14 ▼ HV71 2 Elite 15 ▼ Stargazing 3 Elite 16 ▼ IQUE 4 Pro 4 ⬌ HanaaHC 5 Pro 5 Renascor 6 Pro 6 Herlev Eagles 7 Pro 7 RCTIC 8 Pro 8 Sulkavan Sudet 9 Pro 9 Deadly Phantoms 10 Pro 10 Sinister 11 Pro 11 Hokurit 12 Pro 12 VISU Gaming 13 Pro 13 Tohtorit 14 Pro 14 Be a Bro 15 Pro 15 Geekz Energy eSports 16 Pro 16 GHETTO FIREBIRDS 17 Pro 17 Golden Nights 18 Pro 18 Bjorkloven Esport 19 Pro 19 Nemesis 20 Pro 20 Powerhouse HC 21 Pro 21 GIFU Hockey 22 Pro 22 WannaCry 23 Lite 🥇 ▲ Synergy Hockey 24 Lite 🥈 ▲ Valco 25 Lite 🥉 ▲ IK Oskarshamn 26 Pro Qualifiers 27 Pro Qualifiers 28 Pro Qualifiers 29 Pro Qualifiers 30 Pro Qualifiers 31 Pro Qualifiers 32 Pro Qualifiers Pro Qualifiers 1 Pro 25 Hawaii Hockey 2 Pro 26 Fiasko 3 Pro 27 Djurgården Hockey 4 Pro 28 Prima eSport 6 Pro 29 Joukkue 5 Pro 30 Mora IK 7 Lite 4 Spirit 9 Lite 5 Project X 8 Lite 6 Tadpole 10 Lite 7 Bastu 11 Lite 8 Arkham Asylum 12 Lite 9 Team NGU 13 Core 🥇 Rögle BK 14 Core 🥈 Etelan Vetelat 15 Core 🥉 Frolunda HC Region 16 Core 4 Chiefzz HC 17 Wildcard 18 Wildcard 19 Wildcard 20 Wildcard Lite 1 Pro Qualifiers 2 Pro Qualifiers 3 Pro Qualifiers 4 Pro Qualifiers 5 Pro Qualifiers 6 Pro Qualifiers 7 Pro Qualifiers 8 Pro Qualifiers 9 Pro Qualifiers 10 Pro Qualifiers 11 Pro Qualifiers 12 Pro Qualifiers 13 Pro Qualifiers 14 Pro 29 ▼ FILADELPHIA ACADEMY 15 Pro 30 ▼ Company of Geeks 16 Pro 31 ▼ Pasilan SKA 17 Pro 32 ▼ Almtuna eSport 18 Lite 10 Carolus Icemen 19 Lite 11 HC SHH 20 Lite 12 Sodertalje SK 21 Lite 13 Free From Rodents 22 Lite 14 Hyperion 23 Lite 15 Linköping HC 24 Lite 16 Ace Hockey 25 Lite 17 Lemmenvelhot 26 Lite 18 FROLUNDA HC ACADEMY 27 Lite 19 TTK 28 Lite 20 Technical Disaster 29 Lite 21 RoKi Esports 30 Lite 22 PunaKala 31 Lite 23 Pata Hellalla 32 Lite 24 Sawolanche 33 Lite 25 Bellizzi 34 Lite 26 Rahinage 35 Lite 27 Lulea Hockey 36 Lite 28 Timra IK 37 Lite 29 Hunters 38 Lite 30 Neptune Hockey 39 Lite 31 Resurrection 40 Lite 32 Ultimatum 41 Lite 33 EHC Dinamo Riga 42 Lite 34 Tic Tac Toes 43 Lite 35 KohKae Esports 44 Lite 36 SSKA HC 45 Lite 37 Oulunsalo HT 46 Lite 38 Pirati Chomutov Esports 47 Lite 39 TeQuila SunRise 48 Lite 40 Stone Age 49 Lite 41 Northern Dust 50 Lite 42 Armada Hockey 51 Lite 43 Kymmenelta baariin 52 Lite 44 Including Me 53 Lite 45 The Last Line 54 Lite 46 Lausanne HC Esports 55 Lite 47 Stayhard Stallions 56 Lite Qualifiers 57 Lite Qualifiers 58 Lite Qualifiers 59 Lite Qualifiers 60 Lite Qualifiers 61 Lite Qualifiers 62 Lite Qualifiers 63 Lite Qualifiers 64 Lite Qualifiers Updated ECL Lite Qualifiers For the ECL '23 Season, ECL Lite Qualifiers will be expanded, whereas Core teams will no longer have spots in the ECL Pro Qualifiers from the ECL '23 Pro Spring Qualifiers onwards. These changes will better ensure that all teams will be playing at their correct level in the future. Here's the gist of the changes we'll be making: Expansion of ECL Lite Qualifiers 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. Lite Qualifiers 1 Lite 48 SCB eSports 2 Lite 49 MidiceCrisis 3 Lite 50 EiSKALATiON 4 Lite 51 United Front 5 Lite 52 Lutunilkat 6 Lite 53 Offside Lions 7 Lite 54 Rusty Bulls 8 Lite 55 Central Hockey Canucks 9 Core 5 Seinajoki Noms 10 Core 6 Remparts de Tours eSport 11 Core 7 Herforder Ice Dragons 12 Core 8 United Finns 13 Core 9 New Jersey 14 Core 10 Carolina Reapers 15 Core 11 SunFiesta 16 Core12 Niitti Pohjassa 17 Neo 🥇 Turkunummi 18 Neo 🥈 EPINAL HC ESPORT 19 Neo 🥉 KH Torun Esports 20 Neo 4 HC KOROBKA 21 Lite 56 ▼ Gleumes Hockey Krefeld 22 Lite 57 ▼ Dynamo Dragons 23 Lite 58 ▼ Carlstad Kings Esports 24 Lite 59 ▼ Finnish Hockey Legends 25 Lite 60 ▼ DEG eSports 26 Lite 61 ▼ UnderRated 27 Lite 62 ▼ Finnish Finishers 28 Core 13 Hammer Time 29 Core 14 HIMAS 30 Core 15 Valence Hockey 31 Core 16 Versu 32 Core 17 Yellow Jackets 33 Core 18 Sailors HT 34 Core 19 Shameful Knights 35 Core 20 Knox Stark 36 Core 21 Nordic Nosebleed 37 Core 22 Blitz Loimaa 38 Core 23 Saucer Hockey 39 Core 24 The Expendables 40 Core 25 Huimat 41 Core 26 KeuPa Esports 42 Core 27 Wicked 43 Core 28 Eisbaeren Lauf 44 Core 29 hc marko 45 Core 30 HC Ghost 46 Core 31 Puliveivarit 47 Core 32 Woodhands HC 48 Wildcard 1 49 Wildcard 2 50 Wildcard 3 51 Wildcard 4 52 Wildcard 5 53 Wildcard 6 54 Wildcard 7 55 Wildcard 8 56 Wildcard 9 57 Wildcard 10 58 Wildcard 11 59 Wildcard 12 60 Wildcard 13 61 Wildcard 14 62 Wildcard 15 63 Wildcard 16 64 Wildcard 17 Core 1 Core 33 Geekz Energy eSports II 2 Core 34 Bare Knuckles Hockey 3 Core 35 Nurnberg IceTigers eSport 4 Core 36 Ambri eSports 5 Core 37 Old Hogs 6 Core 38 Clowns On Ice 7 Core 39 Black Hurricanes 8 Core 40 TROJANS 9 Core 41 Taskubilis 10 Core 42 Techno Vikings 11 Core 43 Hawks HC 12 Core 44 TerapiaKerho 13 Core 45 Pass The puck 14 Core 46 Nordic 65 15 Core 47 Lassen Lampaat 16 Core 48 Beastie Boys 17 Core 49 Västerås IK 18 Core 50 Kennelin Pojat 19 Core 51 EASHL Russian 20 Core 52 Rise of Fenix 21 Core 53 Lumparlan Leijonat 22 Core 54 Moscow Capitals 23 Core 55 Las Dilas 24 Core 56 Stick Magnético 25 Core 57 Goodvibes Hockey Group 26 Core 58 Karhukissat 27 Core 59 Swiss Vikings 28 Core 60 Hartsport united 29 Core 61 Stallarholmens Brygghus 30 Core 62 HC VADELMA 31 Core 63 Munich eSports 32 Core 64 Wild Panthera Gaming 33 Core 65 EV Duisburg 34 Core 66 Khoomat 35 Core 67 Eliel Kings 36 Core 68 Swiss Seniors 37 Core 69 Old Primates 38 Core 70 BonusAmbers 39 Core 71 The Flying Elbows 40 Core 72 HC Northmen 41 Core 73 HC SOKOL MOSCOW 42 Core 74 EHC Basel eSports 43 Core 75 Rapalan Vaappu 44 Core 76 The Real Rookies 45 Core 77 RAUTANE REMMI 46 Core 78 Uudenmaan Oilers 47 Core 79 Guldkallan HC 48 Core 80 Hockey is Diversity 49 Core 81 XK KOPCAP 50 Core 82 Unknown Heroes 51 Core 83 Black Wings HC 52 Core 84 Oldies Hockey Club 53 Core 85 GKS Tychy Esports 54 Core 86 Tampere Taisto 55 Core 87 Immortal Street Dogs 56 Core 88 Iserlohn Roosters eSports 57 Core 89 ICE GROM Neo 1 Neo 5 Kompaniet 2 Neo 6 London Lightning 3 Neo 7 FRONTALIERS ESPORT 4 Neo 8 Eishockeynet Yetis 5 Neo 9 Capish 6 Neo 10 Dirty Tacklers HC 7 Neo 11 Hannover Indians eSports 8 Neo 12 Cirkus 9 Neo 13 Force Majeure 10 Neo 14 SWISS TIGERS 2 11 Neo 15 Vaden orjat 12 Neo 16 Nordic Lightning 13 Neo 17 Crocodiles Hamburg 14 Neo 18 VHC NEVA 15 Neo 19 Pirates eSports Origins 16 Neo 20 Nelos Ketju 17 Neo 21 Starbulls Esport 18 Neo 22 No Respect 19 Neo 23 SWISS TIGERS 20 Neo 24 CardiffDevils 21 Neo 25 EHC Kärnten 22 Neo 26 Canada 1c 23 Neo 27 SC Rackelhahn eV 24 Neo 28 Penguins Ingolstadt 25 Neo 29 ERSC Amberg eSports 26 Neo 30 CaMe Gaming C1C 27 Neo 31 Eishockeynet Academy 28 Neo 32 SwissBamClan 29 Neo 33 Muumilaakson Maple Leafs 30 Neo 34 EPINAL HC ESPORT II 31 Neo 35 ESC Duisburger Bulldogs

SportsGamers, ECL Spring starts in about a week and now is the time to add a little more excitement to the season by purchasing a license! To make it easier for teams, we have decided that the cash prizes may be used in whole or in part for a license for the coming season. To take advantage of this opportunity, please contact support and send a message with the subject "ECL '22 Spring - License". Below you can see if your team has made it to the cash prizes: Licenses ECL '22: Spring - Elite License (mandatory) Purchase the ECL '22 Spring: Elite License of 400€ here * ECL '22: Spring - Pro License (mandatory) Purchase the ECL '22 Spring: Pro License of 200€ here * ECL '22: Spring - Lite License (optional) The ECL Lite License will allow your team to play for a share of the Prize pool in the Lite division. The Prize pool consists of License payments. Purchase the ECL Lite License of 100€ here * ECL '22: Spring - Core License (optional) The ECL '22 Winter Core License will allow your team to play for a share of the Prize pool in the Core division. The Prize pool consists of License payments. Purchase the ECL '22 Winter Core License of 50€ here * * One-time purchase by team captain required Socials Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, St Hockey & Wilhelm. Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Note: It is very helpful and critical for us to succeed in getting our partners tagged, so they get the necessary mentions and interaction to validate their participation in the future. That being said, it is understandable that there may be circumstances due to your other partners where you are unable to tag competition etc. Your support is appreciated. As there are quite a few hashtags by now, especially from a Twitter perspective with limited characters, we recommend using at least #ECL22Spring in the text part of the tweet and leave the sponsor tags for the end. If you need to cut out tags, remove #esports and #NHL22. For Instagram this shouldn't be an issue.

SportsGamers, The sun is shining, and the snow is melting. As your traditional hockey seasons might be pushing towards the postseason, on the virtual side of things, we're just about to witness the Elite Finale tonight! We're very excited for what the games ahead will hold, but we're also turning our heads towards the ECL '22 Spring season and launching registrations for all divisions. For the ECL '22 Winter season, we brought in licenses to our lower divisions for the first time. We received huge support from the community and will continue with the same formula for the ECL '22 Spring season. We're always in the process of developing further, so all feedback will be welcomed with open arms. During the ECL '22 Winter season, you probably also noticed our rebrand, which brought a new name, a refreshed website, and some other added features. Most importantly, this allows for us to operate vertically across all sports games in the esports market. The community is certainly also interested to know on which console the ECL Spring will be played? We’ve decided that the ECL '22 Spring season will be played on the PlayStation 4 version and we’ll move to the PlayStation 5 version in the next ECL. However, this does not exclude playing other tournaments on the PlayStation 5 version already in the summer. Without further ado, let's go into it. The ECL is the pinnacle of European NHL esports - a league where all the best European NHL gamers create teams and compete against each other in the game mode EASHL (6v6) for the title of Best EASHL Team in Europe. The league currently features five divisions, so action is guaranteed for everyone regardless of skill level and experience! 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. Russian-owned organization's participation is currently prohibited indefinitely. The ban affects organizations, meaning that Russian players and their private created teams will be able to participate, but cannot be affiliated to a Russian-owned organization. 6v6 tournament: ECL is played 6 vs. 6 only, using the EASHL Challenge Club game mode in NHL 22. 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 licenses: Teams in ECL Elite & ECL Pro will be require their respective ECL '22 Spring license in order to play. Optional licenses are available for the ECL Lite and Core levels. More details below. Rules: The ECL '22 Spring ruleset will follow the same foundation as in ECL '22 Winter season. Wildcard Battle: 5.-10.3. ⚠️ ECL Lite Qualifier: 5.-13.3. ⚠️ ECL Pro Qualifier: 5.-13.3. ⚠️ ECL Neo: 5.3.-1.4. ECL Core: 5.3.-1.4. ECL Lite: 5.-20.3. ECL Pro: 5.-20.3. ECL Elite: 5.-20.3. * Sign-ups will close 23:59 CET on the last day mentioned unless otherwise specified. Additionally, players qualifying for the Wildcard spot must be on the team roster by the time the sign-ups close. Below you'll find the condensed version of what's new this year in the ECL. For a longer look, please read our article about the new era of ECL. ECL Winter & Spring ECL seasons will no longer carry the same numerical distinctions next to them as before. Instead, NHLGamer will be hosting two annual ECL seasons: ECL Winter and ECL Spring. The combined prize pools for ECL Winter, ECL Spring and the ECL Grand Finals will be larger than anything seen before in NHL esports! We’ll be hosting an ECL Grand Final – with an additional prize pool – to crown the annual ECL Champion. This much-anticipated best-of-seven event will feature the ECL Elite teams who won ECL Winter and ECL Spring, respectively. Prize pools for ECL Pro, Lite and Core ECL Elite remains the pinnacle of virtual hockey gaming in Europe but as our community continues to grow and the competition becomes increasingly tougher, playing in ECL Pro, Lite and Core is more prestigious than ever before. We’ll be adding a license and prize pool for our second-tier division; ECL Pro – and voluntary licenses and prize pools for ECL Lite and Core. ECL Pro will feature a mandatory license fee and prize pool. All the money from the team licenses goes into the prize pool. The top sixteen (16) out of the divisions’ 32 teams will be awarded a share of the prize pool. ECL Lite and Core will feature a voluntary license fee and a prize pool for the teams who choose to acquire a license. The top 16 teams that choose to acquire a license in ECL Lite (64 teams) will be awarded a share of the prize pool. The top 32 teams that choose to acquire a license in ECL Core (128 teams) will be awarded a share of the prize pool. See more about licenses in our Licenses section. The divisions framework for the ECL '22 Spring will follow the same logic as for the previous season. 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. Please use the below links for more detailed info about each division and which teams are eligible to sign up: Wildcard Battle information (for ECL Lite and Pro Qualifiers) ECL Lite & Pro Qualifiers information ECL Neo Season Information ECL Core Season Information ECL Lite Season Information ECL Pro Season Information ECL Elite Season Information *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 22) Social media Here's an update to the social media instructions. Our sponsors this season are Kouvolan Lakritsi, Wilhelm & St Hockey. Twitter: When posting tweets of your lineups, matchups, recaps, clips, articles - or any other content you might want to create - please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Instagram: When posting on Instagram, please make sure to tag the following accounts and hashtag: @SportsGamerGG #ECL22Spring #NHL22 #esports #kouvolanlakritsi #MukanaWilhelm Note: It is super helpful and critical for us to succeed in getting our partners tagged, so they get the necessary mentions and interaction to validate their participation in the future. That being said, it is understandable that there may be circumstances due to your other partners where you are unable to tag competition etc. Your support is appreciated. As there are quite a few hashtags by now, especially from a Twitter perspective with limited characters, we recommend using at least #ECL22Winter in the text part of the tweet and leave the sponsor tags for the end. If you need to cut out tags, remove #esports and #NHL22. For Instagram this shouldn't be an issue. PS: We would love for you to follow our social channels, as they are an integral part of the ECL season. Discord Instagram Facebook Twitch Twitter This post has been promoted to an article