© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
© 2026 Riot Games. All Rights Reserved.
TL;DR:
NACL Spring Split Overview
Welcoming the 2026 NACL Teams
How Can I Compete? (Open Qualifier Info)
Where to Watch
Welcome back to another year of the NACL - the dedicated path to pro for North America League of Legends players! We’re here to give you an overview of what to expect heading into the NACL Spring Split. If you need a refresher on our biggest changes for 2026, head over to our NACL 2026 Updates article that we released late last year.
The NACL officially kicks off on Thursday, March 26, bringing with it the return of a single Round-Robin best-of-three (Bo3) regular season (now matching the LCS). When the dust settles, the bottom two teams must fight to defend their NACL slots against Open Qualifier challengers in the NACL Promotion Tournament while the top six teams punch their ticket to Spring Playoffs.
Playoffs will feature a Double Elimination bracket with a high-stakes mix of Bo3 and best-of-five (Bo5) series. This year also brings two major additions: the top seed from the regular season will earn the power to choose their side of the playoffs bracket and Spring Playoffs now carries even more weight. The top two NACL teams from Spring Playoffs will be awarded the status of draft captains for our all-new, group-based Summer Split regular season.
Fearless Draft is also back, and this year it’s joined by a brand new addition. “First Selection” makes its NACL debut in 2026, giving teams more control than ever before. Starting in the Regular Season, teams will be able to choose their side of the map or decide whether to draft first or second. For more details on First Selection, check out the LoL Esports Season Start announcement.
As we gear up for the start of the 2026 NACL competitive season, we’re thrilled to welcome back several familiar faces from 2025. Fresh off the NACL Promotion Tournament, CCG proved their staying power by successfully defending their Split 2 spot, while Apex Mission Impossible makes a long-awaited return to the stage after last competing in 2025 Split 1.
As you may have spotted in the graphic above, we’re excited to announce an additional NACL Pre-Split Open Qualifier kicking off on February 21st! The winner of the Pre-Split NACL Open Qualifier will move on to compete in the NACL Spring Split alongside the other NACL teams. This tournament is in addition to the one previously announced that will take place during the Spring Split, meaning there are even more chances to qualify into the NACL.
The Open Qualifiers will be bringing back the 2025 format featuring up to a 64-team double-elimination bracket with Bo3 matches. The tournament will conclude with a Bo5 Lower Bracket Finals, followed by a Bo5 Upper Bracket Finals, to determine who qualifies for NACL Spring.
As always, teams and players are welcome to stream their own matches. To help ensure roster stability between the new Open Qualifier and the start of NACL, players from the qualifying team’s roster will be unable to join another NACL team until Week 3 of the NACL Spring Split, with qualifier seeding based on each roster’s combined solo queue rankings. This special roster lock cooldown applies only to the Pre-Split Open Qualifier tournament.
As a quick reminder, the NACL minimum age has been lowered to 16 for the 2026 season. We’ve also updated our residency rules, with teams limited to a maximum of two non-resident players. Both of these updates will apply to all NACL Open Qualifiers.
For more details on the Qualifier rules, schedule, bracket, and how to sign up, visit the Qualifier Sign-Up form.
Catch all the NACL action live on Twitch.tv/NACL and YouTube.com/@NACL starting March 26. For the latest news, highlights, and dedicated NACL coverage, make sure to follow along at X.com/watchNACL. An action-packed year of NACL competition is right around the corner, and it’s one you won’t want to miss!
