Highlander Season 36 (Autumn 2026): Home Page

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Schedule

Signups: NOW! – 13th August 18:00 CEST (late joining in swiss divisions is possible until the end of the first regular season week)
Provisional Tiers: 13th/14th of August
Main Season: 17th August – 27th September (5 weeks + Uberfest break)
Playoffs: 28th September – 18th October (3 weeks)

Setup

Roster Lock

We will be maintaining a roster lock starting on the 13th of August (after sign-ups close), after which players can only join through admin requests instead. This will be possible up until the start of the last week of the regular season, after which no new players will be able to join teams.

For all divisions players cannot be more experienced (in accordance with rule 2.7) than the tier of the team they want to join. Experience in other leagues is also included.

Between the signup deadline and the season start we might be more lenient when it comes to players. However adding higher skilled players will affect your team’s seeding.

We are currently in the process of looking at changes to the player experience and late joiner rules. So stay updated to any potential rulechanges ahead of the season!

Class Restrictions & Division Helpers

We’ll avoid trying to apply class restrictions at the start of the season, however based on feedback from previous seasons we will be applying limited restrictions on specific players. This means that teams might have large skill gaps between its players but we’re trying to put a bit more emphasis on allowing people to play with their friends on the class they enjoy playing the most. For this purpose we are also employing Division helpers for Season 36 as we did in the previous seasons.

Are you interested in being a division helper for Highlander Season 36? Sign up below!

Highlander Season 36 (Autumn 2026) Division Helper Interest Form

Furthermore teams WILL NOT be transitioned between divisions during the season, neither will teams in the playoff positions.

Map Pool

Here is the list of the currently confirmed maps for the season:

Map Rotation

The round structure of this upcoming season will be as follows:

Week 1: pl_upward_f12
Week 2: cp_steel_f12
Week 3: koth_product_final & koth_proot_b5b
Week 4: pl_swiftwater_final1
Week 5: pl_vigil_rc10

Playoffs

Playoff information will follow at a later date. For Premiership and Division 1/High teams (2nd highest division) we will be employing a double elimination bracket where the top 4 teams make playoffs. The top 2 teams will enter the Upper Bracket Final and the 3rd and 4th place teams will start in the Lower Bracket Semi-Final. For Open & Low Expect a standard single elimination bracket like in previous seasons.

Fresh Division

We will determine if this division will be used based off of signups. After gathering feedback from Fresh players, we will be more strict on which players are eligible to participate in this division. Players who meet any of the criteria below are not eligible to play in the Fresh division:

played more than 10 matches in ETF2L Open
played in ETF2L Open playoffs or above (this does not include cups)
participated in the playoffs of a previous Fresh season or Fresh Meat Challenge
played more than 10 matches in RGL Amateur
participated in RGL Newcomer playoffs

6v6 experience will be considered. Any previous experience from leagues not listed above will be judged on a case by case basis.

Sign-up Process

First and foremost, you must sign your team up here:

REGISTER YOUR TEAM HERE

Then, if you are applying for Division 6/Open/Fresh (which are our entry divisions), you do not have to provide any proof that you are capable of playing at that level.

Otherwise, we encourage you to send in an application through the ticket system in our Discord or by directly contacting a league admin, with the following information:

– Team name, Division you apply for and ETF2L team link
– Roster
– Recent results and logs associated to them
– Reasons why your team deserves to be placed in the tier you applied for (optional)

e.g.
– Team BIG EXPLOSION, Premiership, https://etf2l.org/teams/1/
announce the roster with the classes
– 5-2 vs Team Aoshi’s All Stars (Prem) : https://logs.tf/012345

Teams that do not contact the admins risk losing their spot in the division they are asking for. If your team is signing up for the High division, we strongly recommend that you tell us if you are looking to play in Division 1 or Division 2; the same goes for Mid teams that have a preference for Division 3 or Division 4.

Please note that the success of your request also strongly depends on the free slots in the tier you aim for. Established teams will be favoured over new teams or teams that request to jump a tier.

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