đą Player Guide
This is a Europe (EU) tournament.
All tournament matches are played on European servers.
The majority of your team is required to possess legal residency in Europe in order to compete. Please see the đRegion Residency section below for more information.
đ REGISTRATION DEADLINE:
> EU RLCS 2026 - Open 1:
> Tuesday November 11th 2025 @ 6:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
This is also when the ranked Matchmaking Ranking for all registered players is automatically taken for seeding purposes.
Teams are responsible for ensuring their roster is properly registered, including all players accepting their invitations to join their team and connecting their Epic Games Account to their registration before this deadline.
Only the playing roster (3 Starters and up to 1 Reserve/Substitute/Alternate) can be registered on start.gg. If a Team earns RLCS Points, RLCS Admins will reach out to collect additional roster information, including any Coach/Manager information as appropriate. Please note that a Team's Coach and/or Manager cannot be registered on start.gg unless they are also the roster's Reserve player.
ALL PLAYERS on your team need to complete the registration process before the deadline for your team to be complete and added to the bracket.
â ī¸ We recommend logging into the correct account on epicgames.com or using a new browser/incognito mode BEFORE REGISTERING TO THIS EVENT to ensure your correct Epic Games account will be linked!
If you are having trouble registering, please use the support channel in the Discord server linked above before the registration deadline!
Any issues with registration raised after the deadline cannot be resolved.
đ Event Times
- Day 1 (Double Elimination) - Friday November 14th 2025 @ 6:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
- Day 2 (Double Elimination continued) - Saturday November 15th 2025 @ 6:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
- Day 3 (Swiss Stage) - Sunday November 16th 2025 @ 6:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
- Day 4 (GSL Stage) - Friday November 21st 2025 @ 5:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
- Day 5 (Hybrid Elimination) - â ī¸ Sunday November 23rd 2025 @ 5:00 pm CET (UTC+1)
- Day 6 (Hybrid Elimination continued) - â ī¸ Saturday December 6th 2025
The top 6 remaining teams from EU Open 1 will be invited to play LIVE from the BLAST Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark for the RLCS 2026 Kick-Off Studio LAN!
âšī¸ Open Format
> For Opens 2/3/5/6, the Top 8 seeded teams automatically advance to the Swiss Stage. 24 teams will therefore advance through the Double Elimination Bracket instead of 32 for those Opens.
Open - Day 1 (Double Elimination):
- Open 1 & 4: Best-of-Three
- Opens 2/3/5/6: Best-of-Three, final round in Upper Bracket is Best-of-Five
- All participants split into pools*
- Teams losing 2 matches are eliminated
- Bracket resumes in Day 2*
* Double Elimination pools, advancements, and schedule are all subject to change based on the number of registered teams. Brackets are published 24 hours prior to event start.
Open - Day 2 (Double Elimination):
- Opens 1 & 4: Lower Round 1 is Best-of-Three, other Upper and Lower Rounds are Best-of-Five
- Opens 2/3/5/6: All Rounds are Best-of-Five
- 256 teams [Opens 1 & 4] / 192 teams [Opens 2/3/5/6] that advanced from Day 1 Double Elimination
- Participants split into 8 pools [Opens 1& 4] / 4 pools [Opens 2/3/5/6]
- 16 teams start in each Pool's Upper Bracket, 16 teams [Opens 1 & 4] / 32 teams [Opens 2/3/5/6] start in each Pool's Lower Bracket based on Day 1 placements
- Teams losing a match in the Upper Bracket drop to the Lower Bracket
- Losing a match in the Lower Bracket eliminates a team
- 4 teams [Opens 1 & 4] / 6 teams [Opens 2/3/5/6] advance to Day 3 from each pool
Open - Day 3 (Swiss Stage):
- Best-of-Five
- 32 teams that advanced from Day 2 Double Elimination [Opens 1 & 4] / 24 teams that advanced from Day 2 Double Elimination join the Top 8 seeded teams [Opens 2/3/5/6]
- Participants split into 2 pools
- Teams winning 3 matches qualify to Day 4
- Teams losing 3 matches are eliminated
- 16 teams advance to Day 4
Open - Day 4 (GSL Stage):
- Best-of-Five
- 16 teams that advanced from Day 3 Swiss Stage
- Participants split into 2 pools
- Teams losing 2 matches are eliminated
- 8 teams advance to Day 5
Open - Day 5 (Hybrid Elimination):
- Best-of-Seven
- 8 teams that advanced from Day 4 GSL Stage
- 4 teams start in the Upper Bracket and 4 teams start in the Lower Bracket based on Day 4 placements
- Winners of the first Upper Group matches advance directly to the Semi-Finals (Day 6)
- Losers of the first Upper Group matches advance to Lower Round 2
- Losing a match in the Lower Bracket eliminates a team
- Lower Round 2, Semi-Finals and Grand Finals played in Day 6
Open - Day 6 (Hybrid Elimination):
- Best-of-Seven
- 6 teams that advanced from Day 5 Hybrid Elimination
- Teams losing a match are eliminated
- The final team remaining is the tournament winner