General Rules

Index

1. General
   
2. League structure & Format
   
3. Composition of the teams
   
4. Protests & Questions
   
5. Schedule & Gameplay
   
6. Before the match
   
7. During the match
   
8. Fraud attempts
   
9. Penalties

General

League

Players and teams

Any natural person who owns a legal League of Legends account on EU West is eligible to participate in the league and is hereinafter dubbed a "Player" if they play with the League of Legends account registered on www.nlc.gg. An association of at least five (5) Players is required to participate in the league and is hereinafter dubbed a "team".

A team is eligible to play if at least three (3) of five (5) Players playing in a game are Locally Trained Representatives (LTR). A Player is considered an LTR if at least one of the following conditions is met:

• The Player has had primary residence in the Northern Region within 36 out of the last 60 months immediately preceding their participation in the first match of the current NLC season.
  
• The Player has played in two (2) of the last three (3) "European Regional League" (ERL) seasons immediately preceding their participation in the first match in the NLC. In addition, a season counts towards the LTR requirement for a Player if the Player was part of an ERL or LEC team for the majority of the matches in the season - even if the Player did not actively participate in the corresponding ERL - as long as the Player did not participate in another ERL.
  
• The Player has had his primary residence in the Northern Region for at least 36 months since his 13th birthday.

Players who participate in a so-called "European Regional League" (ERL), "Professional Esports League" or their secondary leagues at the same time are excluded from participation in the NLC. Players who are no longer a member of a team of an ERL, "Professional Esports League" or their secondary leagues, but have participated in at least 50% of the regular split in one of these leagues, are excluded from participation in the NLC until the respective split has been completed.

Administration

Registration

Commitments

By participating in the NLC, Players accept the rules without limitation and follow the instructions of the Administration. The interpretation of the rules is solely at the discretion of the Administration. Decisions can replace any rule, if they are in accordance with the preservation of the competitive spirit. Any special cases not listed in this rulebook require individual review by the Administration. Measures can deviate from those mentioned here, but will be taken in any case with the principle of proportionality as well as conformity with the rest of the rulebook.

Each Player acknowledges the right of Riot Games and Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH to adjust or change the rules at any time without Riot Games or Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH having to inform the Players about the adjustments or changes.

Every Player has to show due respect to other Players as well as to the Administration. Insults, unfair and/or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated and can be punished with an immediate suspension from the league. The respective match pages, lobby chats as well as ingame chats will be considered. The Administration reserves the right to include incidents that take place outside of these spaces, if a direct relation to the league operation is determined.

Each Player must have the latest version of League of Legends installed and must take care to learn about and apply new updates to their system in a timely manner. Patching is not a valid reason to delay a game under normal circumstances.

By participating in the NLC, the Player confirms that they have reached the age required to play League of Legends in their resident country.

The Administration reserves the right to change or delete offensive or insulting pictures, names or profile descriptions of teams and Players without prior warning. This includes, but is not limited to, racist, anti-semitic, sexist, homophobic, transphobic or otherwise discriminatory names, pictures or profile descriptions.

Data protection regulations

Any person participating in an NLC match hereby agrees that Player and team names as well as sound and image recordings made in the course of the NLC and in which the Player is featured may be used free of charge for publications on websites of Riot Games and Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH, their social media channels and in the context of the press. Riot Games and Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH is thus entitled to a temporally and geographically unrestricted and unlimited use, storage and utilization of the material.

Every Player is required to verify their League of Legends account with their GameSports account. A Player is not eligible to play as a confirmed member of a team until 24 hours after successful verification. A change of the League of Legends account during an ongoing season must be requested and approved via support ticket. The basic requirement for the approval of the change is that the currently verified League of Legends account is not suspended. The Player is only eligible to play if the summoner name specified in the profile matches the account located in the lobby. In case of a name change, the summoner name can be updated independently in the User Center via "YOUR PROFILE".

The creation and use of multiple GameSports Accounts is prohibited. Furthermore, sharing a GameSports account as well as the associated verified League of Legends account and the use of such shared accounts in the context of matches in the NLC is prohibited.

By participating in the NLC, all Players agree that their summoner name will be visible to third parties.

In order to prevent deception and fraud in competitions in which fairness and integrity in esports and/or cash and non-cash prizes are at stake, Freaks 4U Gaming GmbH has a legitimate interest (General Data Protection Regulation; Article 47) in pseudonymizing Game Accounts, such as the League of Legends account, and storing them for up to five (5) years after user account deletion.

Each team is responsible for logos, team names, profile descriptions, etc. themselves. The Administration will only intervene in case of proof of a registered brand name, licensed logos or proven copyright violations as well as violations according to rule 1.5.6.

Communication

The primary communication platform for the NLC is [link=start]www.nlc.gg/link]. Other teams can be contacted using the comment function located under each match.

If any agreements between two (2) teams are made outside of the match comments, they must be noted and confirmed by both teams in the match comments. The Administration reserves the right not to admit screenshots of conversations outside the match comments as evidence.

Activity

By registering for the NLC, each team agrees to actively participate. In order not to make other teams wait unnecessarily on match days, each team must always be ready to play at the official match date.

If a team is no longer able or willing to participate in the league, the team leader is required to communicate this to the Administration via support ticket.

Any team that fails to show up at the official match date for two (2) consecutive matches or a total of three (3) matches within the group stage may be disqualified from the current NLC season by the Administration. If a team fails to show up for a match during the calibration stage, the team may be disqualified within the calibration stage. The achieved victories in the calibration stage have then no influence on the placement for the group stage. However, participation in the season is still possible afterwards.

Each team is required to check the match of the opposing team of the previous match day in case of a default win and report inactive teams.

Any team that has been disqualified in the current season loses its right to the achievements already obtained by the team account. This means that when registering for the following season, the team will be placed in the Starter Division, unless it participates in the calibration stage.

Prohibited sponsors

• Any other video game, other video game developer, or publisher
  
• Any video game consoles
  
• Any esport or other video game tournament, league, or event
  
• Any other esports team, owner, or affiliate thereof
  
• Any prescription drugs
  
• Firearms, ammunition or firearm accessories
  
• Pornography or pornographic products
  
• Tobacco products or paraphernalia
  
• Betting or gambling providers (bookmakers and betting sites)
  
• Non-beer/wine Alcohol products (including non-alcoholic beverages marketed by alcohol companies) or other intoxicants the sale or use of which is regulated by Applicable Law
  
• Sellers of or marketplaces for virtual items known to be counterfeit or illegal
  
• Seller of or marketplaces for goods or services that violate the LoL Game Terms of Use
  
• Fantasy esports operators (including daily fantasy)
  
• Political campaigns or political action committees
  
• Charities that endorse particular religious or political positions, or are not reputable (by way of example, Red Cross, Stand-Up to Cancer and other similar mainstream charities would be considered reputable)
  
• Cryptocurrencies, or any other unregulated financial instruments or markets
  
• Businesses engaged in offering Contracts for Difference (CFD) trading, or similar trading on margin products
  
• Beer and wine products

League structure & Format

Calibration phase

Teams can get into Division 3 via the calibration stage at most. Teams that are already qualified for Division 1, Division 2 or Division 3 are excluded from participation.

The calibration stage will be held in the Swiss format. Details about this format can be found here.

Group stage

The second phase is the group stage. It is divided into different divisions, which are supposed to express the different skill levels. The highest division is the "Division 1", followed by "Division 2", "Division 3" and so on, up to the "Starter Division". Each division consists of one or more groups that are equal within the division.

The successes from the previous season and the calibration stage determine the distribution to the different divisions. Teams that were disqualified in the previous season or did not participate in the previous season or the calibration stage of the current season will be placed in the Starter Division.

In the group stage of Divisions 3-5, each group will consist of up to eight (8) teams. Groups are played in the so-called "Round Robin" format, where all teams play each other once in a "Two Games" format.

Depending on the rank at the end of the group stage, teams in Divisions 3-5 can be placed as follows:

• Promotion to the next higher division
  
• Playoffs to the next higher division
  
• Same divsion
  
• Playoffs to the next lower division
  
• Relegation to the next lower division
  

The group stage of the Starter Division will be played in only one group in a Swiss format with eight (8) rounds. Each team plays one match per round in a "Two Games" format. Depending on the number of wins achieved, teams will be placed in different divisions for the following season, maximum Division 3.

For the Winter Split 2022: The group stage of Division 3 will be played in one group with the Swiss Format of six (6) rounds. Every team must play up to two (2) matches per week in a "Best of One" format. In the fourth week ties will be broken if necessary. Depending on the number of wins achieved, teams are ranked for the Division 2-3 playoffs in the same season, Division 3 for the next season or a second part of the group stage in the same season.

Playoffs

The third and final phase is the playoffs, which starts after the group stage and serves to regulate promotion and relegation to and from divisions. Participation in the playoffs is dependent on the results from the group stage. If a team qualified for the playoffs does not show up for the playoffs, the team will reach the lower of the two divisions that can be reached.

The exact format of each playoff will be announced on the league page.

Matches

In the group stage, a match consists of two (2) games. In the playoffs, a match consists of a best-of-one (Bo1) or a best-of-three (Bo3). The result will be entered automatically after the match. If the result is not entered after a few minutes due to a technical problem, the Administration must be contacted as soon as possible via support ticket.

Each victory of a match in the group stage corresponds to one (1) point in the ranking.

Ranking

The ranking in the group is calculated according to the points earned.

In the event of a tie in points, the following actions will be taken to break the tie:

• Number of victories of tiebreaker matches
  
• Time scoring from tiebreaker matches

Tiebreaker matches are played at the end of the regular season and are played in Best-Of-One (Bo1). Tiebreaker matches will only be created in the event of a tie by points and only if the standings of the tied teams would put them in different divisions or playoffs. The Administration may decide at their sole discretion that further ties will be solved by tiebreaker matches.

In case of another tie after the tiebreaker matches, a so-called time scoring will be applied. For this purpose, the sum of the match time of all victories of the tiebreakers will be subtracted from the sum of the match time of all defeats. In case of a default win, the match time will be set to 15 minutes.

Composition of the teams

Team size

In order to participate in an NLC season, a minimum of five (5) Players from a team must register for the season and thus be confirmed for the season lineup.

Teams that can no longer provide a lineup eligible to play in a current season can be removed from the current season by the Administration. These teams will then lose their entitlement to the successes already achieved by the team account.

A team may submit a game-eligible lineup if

• at least five (5) Players on the team are eligible to participate in the season; or
  
• the amount of Players can be increased to five (5) by using roster additions; or
  
• with the help of stand-ins all remaining matches can be played.

In a season, there can be a maximum of ten (10) Players in the season lineup at any one time .

Stand-Ins

A stand-in is a Player who is not listed in the team's active lineup and is filling in for an active Player.

A maximum of two (2) stand-ins are allowed per match on a team.

Each team may use a stand-in up to a total of five (5) times during the group stage.

Per team, the same stand-in may help out a maximum of two (2) times in the group stage.

A Player may only be used as a Stand-In if they are not a confirmed Player of a team of a higher division or of the same group. This applies in particular also to the entire Starter Division and implies that only Players who are not registered in any NLC roster can participate as stand-In in the Starter Division.

No stand-ins are allowed in the calibration phase or in the playoffs.

Roster additions

Player transfer

A Player may play for up to three (3) teams during a season.

A Player may change the season lineup during a season once. This includes the registration stage.

A Player may join a season lineup after the end of the fourth (4) week of play only if they were not previously a member of another team's season lineup.

Team owners

A team belongs to the creator of the team account until it first consists of five (5) or more Players.

A team that at least at one time consisted of five (5) or more Players is owned by the majority of the team. The right to manage a team rests with the team leader. However, if more than 50% of the team votes in favor of a new team leader, they will take over the team in which the team leader status will be transferred to the new person.
Eligible to vote are:

• Players who have been on the team account for seven (7) days or more
  
• Players who do not meet the above criterion, but can be shown to have played at least one (1) match for the team as a member of the confirmed lineup
  
• Players removed from the team account within the last seven (7) days.

Team accounts may be passed on without further consultation of the Administration. Here it should be noted that this is only allowed without any form of compensation. A sale for money or other services or products is prohibited.

Organizations

Companies, clubs, clans or businesses can be registered as an organization. This requires a registration of the team leader via support ticket and an approval of the Administration. Here, as much information as possible about the organization as well as the NLC account of a contact person must be provided.

The Administration reserves the right to register teams independently as an organization. The contact person will then be determined and informed by the Administration.

When the organization status is reached, the team account no longer belongs to the creator or the majority of the team, but to the organization.

Transfer of slots, both within an organization and to another organization, must be approved by the Administration.

An organisation may field a maximum of one (1) team per group and therefore organisations within a division may not field more teams than there are groups in that division. Should an organisation exceed the maximum number of teams allowed within a division at the beginning or during a season, teams must be detached from the organisation or placed in the next lower division until the maximum number of teams allowed is reached. Should the number of teams of an organisation within a division be equal to the number of groups in that division, no team of that organisation may participate in the play-offs for that division. The maximum number of teams of an organisation that may participate in the play-offs for a higher division is the number of places available in that division. This already includes the Division 3 play-offs.

The Administration reserves the right to apply rule 3.6.5 to teams that have not been registered as an organization but clearly belong to the same organization.

Protests & Questions

General

Any questions or complaints about the league must be submitted via support ticket. The Administration cannot be reached in any other way.

Complaints must be submitted via support ticket within 24 hours after the official match time. Protests submitted outside of this time period may be rejected without review. Players are encouraged to include as much evidence as possible with their protest and provide as much detail as possible. An upload function for uploading screenshots is available for this purpose on every match page. Uploads to external sites may not be accepted, unless this is explicitly requested or required by the Administration.

Support tickets must be kept confidential, publication of support content of any kind is prohibited.

Duty of proof

It is the responsibility of a team to provide sufficient and clear evidence when making a complaint. Complaints that are not clearly presented due to lack of evidence may be denied.

When protesting the result, screenshots of all games within a match must be added to the support ticket or the respective match page.

If one or more Players are late or do not show up at all for the game, the protesting team must document this with a screenshot stating the current time.

In case of a suspected cheat, a replay of the game in question must be uploaded to the match page. Support tickets for a suspected cheat must describe the situations in detail.

Schedule & Gameplay

Group stage

Division 2-5: A game day starts in the respective week on Monday at 00:00 CET/CEST and ends on the Sunday of the next week at 23:59 CET/CEST. Thus, a match day lasts 14 days. Except for the last matchday, which lasts only seven (7) days. The exact schedule can be found on the tournament page.

Starter Division: A match day starts in the respective week on Tuesday at 00:00 CET/CEST and ends on Sunday at 23:59 CET/CEST. Thus, a game day lasts six (6) days. The respective Monday is used to check protests as well as to create the next round. The exact game schedule can be found on the tournament page.

Each match has a so-called alternate date. This is only the official match date if neither team tries to find an alternative match date via the "scheduling tool" according to rules 5.1.6 and 5.1.7 or if a different match date is not agreed upon and not reported via support ticket according to rule 5.1.9 at least 48 hours before the alternate date.

The alternate date within the group stage for the division 5 as well as Starter Division is always Sunday at 16:00 CET/CEST and for the divisions 3-4 always Sunday at 16:00 CET/CEST. in the respective match week and will be displayed accordingly on the match pages as official match date.

Teams shall decide together when to play on the respective match day. A date deviating from the alternate date must have been agreed between the teams by the start of the respective alternate date, unless rule 5.1.6 applies. The agreement to find a deviating date is not considered a valid date shift.

A proposed date must be communicated to the opposing team on the respective match page using the "Scheduling Tool". At least one (1) and a maximum of three (3) date proposals must be made. The first date within a proposed date is called the desired date. To simplify the scheduling process, teams are encouraged to propose as many different dates as possible.

A desired date that is not rejected by the other team for 48 hours within the current match day is considered tacitly accepted, provided that the date at the time of the proposal is at least 48 hours in the future and the time of the proposed date is at least 48 hours before the alternate date.

If the desired date does not fall under rule 5.1.6 and has not been explicitly confirmed by the other team, all other proposed dates will also be void.

A proposed date must be accepted at least two (2) hours before the start of the match, either by the opposing team or automatically. If a match is accepted after this deadline, it requires a new confirmation by both teams in the match comments. The administration must be informed via support ticket to reset the match date.

If both teams cannot agree on a match date, the Administration has to be informed via support ticket at least 48 hours before the current match date. In this case, the Administration will decide on the further procedure based on the date suggestions given by both teams. If the deadline is not met, the current match date will remain in place.

Postponing

All matches must be played on the corresponding match day according to rule 5.1.1. If matches have not been played at the end of the respective match day, they will be closed and scored 0-0.

Should one of the teams wish to postpone an already scheduled date, the other team must first agree to this new date before it becomes effective. Ignoring such a request is equivalent to a refusal. If the opposing team shows a willingness to talk when it comes to finding a new date, this does not automatically count as acceptance of the rescheduled date. Until such time as both teams agree to the new date, the previously agreed match date will apply.

In order to reschedule a confirmed date, both teams must confirm the new date and contact the Administration via support ticket.

Calibration stage

Playoffs

Before the match

Lineup selection & ready check

The leader or a captain of a team must designate an eligible lineup on the match page before the start of the official match time. If this is not done within the deadline, the match will automatically be considered lost. In the calibration stage, the deadline is set at ten (10) minutes after the official match time.

Each Player of the selected match lineup must, with the exception of the calibration stage, confirm their participation from 15 minutes before and until the start of the official match time by marking themselves as "present" on the match page. If this is not done within the time limit, the match will automatically be considered lost.

If none of the teams submits a lineup eligible to play in time and successfully complete the ready check, the match will be closed unscored. The match can be repeated within the matchday if both teams explicitly agree on a new date in the match comments. The Administration must be informed about this immediately via support ticket.

Punctuality

Each team must be ready to play at the official match date.

The end of a match is defined in the match's log. The official start time of the next match starts five (5) minutes after the end of the previous match.

If a team is late to a game, the following rules apply:

• 15 minutes late: loss of the game
  
• 30 minutes late: loss of the entire match

Tournament Codes & lobby

At the time of the match, the "Tournament Code" can be requested by Leaders or Captains of the playing teams on the match page. This code is needed to join the lobby and thus also to start the game. The settings created with the Tournament Code determine the map as well as the mode of the Champion Selection. It is played on the 5vs5 map (Summoner's Rift). The Champion Selection takes place in the 'Tournament Draft' game mode.

The team named first on the match page (left) has the right of side selection for the first game. With each further game this right changes. The side selection must be made in the lobby at the latest.

All Players are required to compare the summoner names of the opposing lineup in the lobby with the summoner names on the match page. All Players entered in the match lineup are generally eligible to play in the match, unless explicitly mentioned otherwise on the match page. As long as at least one summoner name in the lobby does not match the name on the match page, the team is considered late according to 6.2.3.

If the Pick-&-Ban Phase is started before both teams are ready, the Champion Selection can be left before the first ban of the own team.

The game is considered to have started when at least one of the following points is fulfilled:

• Visual contact was established between Players of both teams.
  
• A Player uses an attack or ability on Minions, Jungle camps, towers, or enemy champions.
  
• A Player enters, establishes line of sight, or uses an ability in the enemy Jungle. This includes leaving the river or entering a bush adjacent to the enemy Jungle.
  
• The in-game time reaches 02:00 minutes.

If there are technical problems with a tournament code, the game can be played as a 'Custom Game' (Tournament Draft, spectators only in lobby), if both teams agree. The result of the game must be reported to the Administration via support ticket with conclusive evidence.

Champion Selection

Placeholders are not allowed during the Champion Selection. Picks and bans selected within the lobby may not be changed. This includes random selections due to technical errors. If the Champion Selection is cancelled, all bans and picks must be repeated in identical order until the cancellation. The selected champions can be swapped within the team as desired.

In case of technical problems like bugs or disconnects during the Champion Selection, and a wrongly selected champion, be it a pick or ban, the Champion Selection can be interrupted by the affected team, if the opposing team has not yet selected another pick or ban afterwards. All picks and bans must be repeated until the incorrectly selected champion. The incorrectly selected champion can then be re-selected.

In case of technical problem at the end of the Champion Selection, such as wrongly selected runes, Summoner Spells or a bug when swapping champions, the game can be aborted and the Champion Selection restarted, if the game has not been started yet according to rule 6.3.5. All picks and bans must be repeated.

Newly released champions are locked for the patch they are released on. Furthermore, the Administration reserves the right to temporarily or briefly disable individual champions, for example due to bugs.

If a Champion is selected as a pick by a team as per rule 6.4.4, the Champion Selection shall be stopped immediately and all picks and bans shall be repeated in identical order. If the Champion Selection is not stopped and the match is deemed to have started as per rule 6.3.5, protests regarding the pick will not be accepted.

Should the Champion Selection be abandoned by a team, that team is required to inform the opposing team immediately of the reason(s) for the abandonment.

Spectators

During the match

Substitutions

End of game

• A nexus has been destroyed.
  
• A team has used the surrender function in League of Legends.
  
• An Admin declares the match to be over.

Pauses & Disconnects

In the event of a disconnect, the pause function must be used. Pauses can be initiated within the game by using /pause. This function is also intended for other emergencies, such as lags or other technical problems. Each team is then entitled to 10 minutes of pause per game. If this time is exceeded, the opposing team can insist on continuing the game. If a team refuses to continue the game after the pause time, the Administration must be informed as soon as possible via support ticket. If there is no instruction from the Administration within ten (10) minutes and the opposing team continues to refuse to resume, the match will be suspended until further notice. The Administration may, at its discretion, resume, reschedule or close the match.

Before resuming the game, both teams must confirm that they are ready to continue the game.

Streaming

Every Player as well as spectator is free to stream the games of their own team. A stream delay of three (3) minutes is recommended for Players.

Players are prohibited from watching these streams. Being present in the stream chat is considered a violation in this regard.

If there is a protest regarding the match score according to rule 7.4.2, the protesting team has the obligation to prove possible effects on the match.

Server crash

Fraud attempts

Cheating

Bugs

If bugs occur in the game that significantly affect the game, the game must be paused. The Administration must be informed immediately via support ticket. If said bugs affect only one team, clips or screenshots must be taken of the game to prove the bug. If there is no instruction from the Administration within ten (10) minutes, the match will be suspended until further notice. The Administration may, at its discretion, resume, reschedule or close the match.

Deliberate abuse of bugs is prohibited.

Match fixing

Penalties